European Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan insisted there would be no deal with Mercosur unless negotiators are fully satisfied strong standards will apply to all produce. It comes as another round of the negotiations on Mercosur got under way in Brussels this week.
China and South Korea are seeking to establish free trade agreements with Mercosur in a strategic response to Washington's increasingly protectionist stance. The East Asian initiatives have resonated well in a region where Washington is keeping its distance. U.S. President Donald Trump has not visited a single Latin American country since taking office in January 2017, and chose not to attend the Summit of the Americas, which recently concluded in Peru.
The European Union and Mexico reached an agreement on Saturday on a new free trade deal, a coup for both parties in the face of increased protectionism from the United States under President Donald Trump. Since its plans for a trade alliance with the United States were frozen after Trump's election victory, the EU has focused instead on trying to champion open markets and seal accords with other like-minded countries.
Argentine foreign minister Jorge Faurie met on Tuesday in Paris with his French peer Jean-Yves Le Drian to address current political and economic bilateral relations, as well as the latest advances in the Mercosur/European Union negotiations.
European officials said this week that significant obstacles remain to a long-delayed trade deal between the European Union and Mercosur, even as South American officials expressed optimism a deal would be finalized soon.
Swiss Economic Affairs Minister Johann Schneider-Ammann wants to speed up a free trade agreement between Switzerland and Mercosur, but there is concern in the agricultural sector, according to the country's media.
European farm lobbies Copa and Cogeca sent a letter to EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker opposing the EU move to give further concessions on agriculture in return for gains in other economic sectors to Mercosur.
The Canadian government plans to open free trade talks with the four-nation Mercosur trading bloc in South America at a time when the future of NAFTA is facing increasing uncertainty. Canada sends around 75% of its goods exports to the United States and is looking for new markets to reduce the reliance on its southern neighbor.
The government of Peru announced through its prime minister, Mercedes Aráoz, that it has withdrawn the invitation it sent to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in November to attend the eighth Summit of the Americas, to be held in Lima on the 13th and 14th. of April; a week of the criticized presidential elections decreed by the Constituent Assembly in Venezuela.
A long-awaited major trade deal between the EU and Mercosur may this week take a key step towards realization with ministerial teams from both sides meeting in Brussels on Monday. They are expected to give negotiators a new, decisive political impulse to reach agreement in a matter of weeks, according to Irish sources.