When US president Barack Omaba lands in Brazil next Saturday the emphasis of the visit will be on deepening economic relations and potential business opportunities, but Brazil has made it plain clear that any free trade talks with the United States can only take place in the framework of Mercosur.
European Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolos has been warned of the dangers facing Scotland if the EU opens its markets to large quantities of ‘cheap meat’ imports from Mercosur, reports the Farmers’ Guardían.
The European Union and Mercosur begin Monday a new round of negotiations in Brussels to reach an association and trade agreement although proposals for market access will not be on the table yet.
Although in public former Argentine president Nestor Kirchner was supportive of Uruguay’s negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States, members of his cabinet warned the US embassy in Buenos Aires that Argentina would block such an initiative in Mercosur, according to the contents of several Wikileaks cables published in Montevideo and Buenos Aires.
This week’s strong statement from the European Parliament warning about concessions that ‘can adversely affect European farmers’, precisely a week before Mercosur and EU delegates meet in Brussels to advance trade discussions has caused a certain degree of uncertainty among the South American group delegates.
Farmers in the UK have warned the EU against a trade deal with Mercosur which could see Brazil and Argentina given access to the European meat market, potentially flooding the market with cheap imports and undermining domestic producers.
A trade agreement with Mercosur should not have to destroy the European beef industry, said on Tuesday a spokesperson for the European Community who added that such fears are ‘exaggerated’.
The European Parliament passed a highly critical report on trade negotiations between the EU and the Mercosur bloc for considering that they may imply “farming concessions damaging to European producers.”
Irish farmers occupied Monday afternoon the offices of the European Commission in Dublin, over fears of a multibillion-Euro threat to the livestock industry from Mercosur.
United States considers Mercosur as an “anti American” organization and fears the incorporation of Venezuela to the group made up of Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay according to one of the latest Wikileaks to see light in the River Plate press.