European Union Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis He canceled a trip to Brazil to finalize the bloc’s landmark trade deal with South America’s Mercosur group of nations as prospects of a deal being completed dimmed. He should have been the EU trade director Rio de Janeiro For the meeting of the Mercosur countries, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, on December 7. Macron had already expressed uncertainty about completing the agreement after his meeting with Brazilian President Lula at the UN COP28 climate summit yesterday.

I am against the Mercosur agreement with the European Union. It is a completely contradictory agreement. I cannot ask our farmers and manufacturers in France, but also across Europe, to commit to implementing new decarbonisation rules and then suddenly say: “I will remove all tariffs to allow in products that do not apply these rules.” In addition to the new Argentine president Javier Miley He has already criticized the Mercosur bloc as protectionist. The next few days coincide with the end of Brazil’s rotating presidency of Mercosur, with Paraguayan President Santiago Peña warning that Mercosur may withdraw if the European Union does not finalize the treaty by December 6. There are two outstanding issues, equal competition in public procurement and environmental requirements. Both are opposed by Brazil, led by Lula.

Paolo Manzo, December 3, 2023

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