Mercosur

• Thursday, December 3rd 2009 - 13:35 UTC

  Toys’ game: Brazil warns Argentina that trade restrictions will be reciprocated

  

  Brazil has threatened with trade reprisals if Argentina does not lift new restrictions to imports of Brazilian manufactured toys. Trade tensions between the two Mercosur partners and largest economies of South America have soured lately because of what Brazil considers “protectionist” measures and attitudes from Argentina.

• Tuesday, December 1st 2009 - 13:10 UTC

  Mercosur/EU political support to bolster technical meetings

  

  Mercosur officials together with representatives from Spain, Portugal and the European Community agreed Monday to provide greater emphasis to the technical meetings with the purpose of advancing towards an association agreement between the two blocks.

• Tuesday, December 1st 2009 - 07:35 UTC

  Mercosur, India and African nations begin trade and investment talks

  

  Brazil launched this week in Geneva a round of negotiations to further liberate trade between Mercosur, India and the Union of Nations from Austral Africa with the purpose of ratifying south-south cooperation, while global negotiations in the framework of the Doha Round remain stalled.

• Tuesday, December 1st 2009 - 07:33 UTC

  Paraguayan Senate “freezes” Venezuela’s Mercosur incorporation

  

  The Paraguayan Senate is also turning its back on Venezuela’s president Hugo Chavez Mercosur incorporation request. A leading Senator from the ruling coalition said that under current circumstances, and Chavez latest statements makes it “virtually impossible” to decide on the issue.

• Monday, November 30th 2009 - 11:51 UTC

  Mujica reaches out to the opposition and calls for political agreements

  

  Jose “Pepe” Mujica, 74, from the ruling Broad Front coalition was confirmed Sunday as Uruguay’s next president having defeated in the run-off 51.9% to 44.1%, Conservative candidate and former president Luis Alberto Lacalle.

• Saturday, November 28th 2009 - 07:28 UTC

  Mercosur/EU trade talks to resume next Monday in Portugal

  

  Mercosur countries are preparing a meeting with European representatives on the sidelines of the Ibero-American summit this weekend in Portugal to confirm their “interest” in reactivating trade negotiations with the EU, according to Spanish diplomatic sources.

• Friday, November 27th 2009 - 05:14 UTC

  Brazilian Senate further delays vote on Mercosur incorporation of Venezuela

  

  Former Brazilian president and head of the Senate Jose Sarney said that the upper house has no interest “for the moment” in casting a vote on the Protocol papers for the incorporation of Venezuela as the fifth full member of Mercosur.

• Thursday, November 26th 2009 - 07:53 UTC

  Spain promises tangible results from EU/Mercosur trade talks

  

  Spain wants to boost trade negotiations between the European Union and Mercosur when it takes over the pro tempore presidency of the block next January, according to Spanish diplomats quoted by Madrid’s main daily El Pais.

• Wednesday, November 25th 2009 - 10:01 UTC

  Brazil to scrutinize Argentine imports licences system

  

  Mercosur senior partners are again clashing over trade. Brazilian government announced that it will run an exhaustive study of all the non-automatic import licenses that President Lula da Silva’s administration believes cause nothing but Argentine restrictions on Brazilian products.

• Saturday, November 21st 2009 - 09:04 UTC

  Mercosur has top performing and worst performing presidents

  

  Two presidents from Mercosur countries figure among the leaders with the highest approval ratings in the Americas while the other two are at the opposite end.