EU, S.America bloc reach trade deal after 20 years of talks

Yahoo – AFP, Clément ZAMPA, June 29, 2019

Mercosur countries hope to export up to 99,000 tonnes of beef to Europe a year
before they have to pay tariffs (AFP Photo/DANIEL GARCIA)

Brussels (AFP) - The European Union and South American trade bloc Mercosur sealed a blockbuster trade deal Friday, ending 20 years of talks over one of the world's largest regional commercial accords, negotiators said.

The agreement came after two decades of often tough negotiations between the EU and the countries of Mercosur -- Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay -- which had repeatedly stalled because of European farmer sensitivities over the beef market.

The deal was announced as the US administration of President Donald Trump faced several bilateral disputes, including trade tensions with China and disagreements with EU countries.

"I measure my words carefully when I say that this is a historical moment," European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker told reporters on the sidelines of the G20 in Osaka.

"In the midst of international trade tensions, we are sending today a strong signal with our Mercosur partners that we stand for rules-based trade."

In a strong show of unity, all the European and Mercosur leaders also members of the G20 gathered for a joint photo, with Argentine President Mauricio Macri also hailing a "historic day."

Europe wants Mercosur countries to open their markets to EU automakers
(AFP Photo/Paul ELLIS)

European farmers concerned

The trade pact is the largest ever concluded by the EU, Juncker said in a statement released in Brussels, and would save European companies more than four billion euros ($4.5 billion) worth of trade duties every year.

It covers markets that total approximately 780 million consumers, an EU statement said.

Brazil welcomed a "historic" agreement with the EU, while Argentina called the deal "unprecedented".

The announcement of the deal, details of which were not revealed and which must be approved by the 28 EU member states, comes as leaders of the world's most powerful economies gather in Osaka, Japan, for a G20 summit.

Once implemented, it is tipped to eliminate 99 percent of agricultural and industrial tariffs on both sides and facilitate exchanges in services and government procurement, reduce technical barriers, and effect sanitary and phytosanitary measures and intellectual property.

The agreement has nonetheless raised concerns of European farmers who fear unfair competition, as well as NGOs concerned about consequences for the climate.

French President Emmanuel Macron, seen here with US counterpart Donald Trump 

at the G20 summit in Japan, had threatened to scupper the EU-Mercosur deal if 

Brazil withdrew from the Paris climate accord (AFP Photo/Jacques Witt)

Challenges to EU farmers

"Today’s agreement also presents some challenges to European farmers and the European Commission will be available to help farmers meet these challenges," the EU's agriculture commissioner Phil Hogan said in a statement.

"For this agreement to be a win-win... carefully managed quotas will ensure that there is no risk that any product will flood the EU market and thereby threaten the livelihood of EU farmers."

The 28-member EU currently accounts for about one-quarter of global gross domestic product (GDP) at 18 trillion euros ($20 trillion).

Finalisation of the talks had been complicated by French President Emmanuel Macron, who threatened to scrub the deal if Brazil withdrew from the Paris climate accord that commits signatories to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and which Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro has threatened to leave.

"If Brazil leaves the Paris accord, we could not sign trade deals with them," Macron said Thursday night in Japan en route to Osaka for the G20 summit.

"The reason is simple, we are requiring our farmers to stop using pesticides... our businesses to reduce emissions. That has a competitive cost," Macron added.

Activists had urged the EU to halt the trade talks over Brazil's alleged harm to 

its rainforests and indigenous peoples (AFP Photo/Mauro Pimentel)

Cognac and Manchego cheese

Activists had urged the EU to halt the Mercosur trade talks over Brazil's alleged harm to its rainforests and indigenous peoples in order to benefit influential agribusinesses.

For Europe, the deal would mean greater access to large South American automobile markets and respect for so-called protected geographical indications such as Cognac or Manchego cheese.

The EU is also counting on the agreement to improve access to the South American market for telecommunications, transport or financial services.

Mercosur countries in return hope to export up to 99,000 tonnes of beef to Europe a year before they have to pay tariffs, alongside stronger exports of ethanol, sugar and poultry.

The EU and Mercosur exchange 88 billion euros in goods annually, with a balance very slightly in favour of the Europeans (+2.5 billion euros).

EU urged to halt trade talks with S. America over Brazil abuses

Yahoo – AFP, June 18, 2019

Deforestation in the Amazon rainforest and harm done to Brazil's indiginous people
are issues that should push the EU to halt trade talks, according to some 340
groups in Europe and Latin America (AFP Photo/CARL DE SOUZA)

Brussels (AFP) - Hundreds of activist groups on Tuesday urged the EU to "immediately halt negotiations" for a trade deal with Mercosur countries over Brazil's alleged harm of its indigenous people and rainforests.

The appeal from more than 340 groups could further complicate the European Union's bid to conclude 20 years of talks for a free trade agreement with Brazil and its Mercosur partners Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.

In an open letter, Greenpeace as well as an array of NGOs across Europe and Latin America reminded the EU it had previously suspended trade preferences with Myanmar and the Philippines over alleged human rights abuses.

"It is time that the EU takes a similar, tough stance to prevent a deterioration of the human rights and environmental situation in Brazil," the letter said.

"We therefore call on you to immediately halt negotiations for an EU-Mercosur free trade agreement," it added.

It urged Brussels to "guarantee that no Brazilian products sold in the EU, nor the financial markets underpinning them, are leading to increases in deforestation, land grabbing of native lands or human rights violations."

The letter also urged an end to trade talks until Brazil's far-right President Jair Bolsonaro gives concrete commitments to implement the 2015 Paris climate deal.

European trade commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom told journalists on Monday that EU officials were in close contact with the growing number of NGOs expressing concern.

EU officials have "listened to them and tried to see what we can do," the Swedish commissioner said.

"There are some measures taken in Brazil that we certainly do not agree with and a trade agreement cannot solve all the miseries of the world," Malmstrom said.

"But we can get a context to discuss these issues. We are certainly trying to get a chapter on trade and sustainable development that is as ambitious as possible but it is not done yet."

Brazil's Bolsonaro and Argentina's Mauricio Macri expressed confidence earlier this month that the deal would soon be signed.

Malmstrom said the two blocs were near an agreement, and expressed hope it could be reached before the current European Commission stands down in November.

The main obstacle has been European reluctance to open its market to agricultural products from South America, and more recently differences have emerged with Brazil over trading meat, sugar and automobiles.

Mexico threatens to ditch US corn imports

Yahoo – AFP, Yussel GONZALEZ, March 21, 2017

Mexico imports billions of dollars' worth of corn from the US to feed its
livestock (AFP Photo/Brendan Smialowski)

Mexico City (AFP) - Mexico has identified a potential weapon in its trade wrangle with US President Donald Trump: lucrative yellow cobs of American corn.

The Latin American nation imports billions of dollars' worth of the yellow grain from the United States to feed its livestock.

But with Trump pushing to shake up the countries' trade ties, Mexico is now threatening to buy from elsewhere.

That is worrying corn growers in some of the very same US states that voted heavily in favor of Trump: Iowa, North Dakota, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska.

Trump has vowed to restrict free trade with Mexico in order to protect US jobs and industry.

But with Mexico gearing up for a potential trade battle, the effect could be the opposite -- at least when it comes to corn.

"For US corn producers, Mexico is their number one export customer," Thomas Sleight, president of the US Grains Council, told AFP.

"They are concerned about maintaining excellent relationships with long standing customers that they've built over generations."

Leverage for NAFTA talks

Mexico's Agriculture Secretary Jose Calzada said Mexico is in advanced talks with two other corn producers, Brazil and Argentina.

The US grain is cheaper than those countries' corn at $198 a ton, says Juan Carlos Anaya, head of the Agricultural Markets Consulting Group, a Mexican research firm.

Brazilian corn costs $210 a ton and Argentine corn $217, Anaya said.

Buying corn from other countries would drive up the price of certain products in Mexico, he warned.

The US grain is cheaper than Brazil and Argentina's corn, at $198 a ton

(AFP Photo/Justin Sullivan)

But Mexico needs alternative sources of corn to gain leverage in trade negotiations.

Trump has vowed to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Mexico and Canada.

He wants new conditions that will help shift manufacturing jobs back to the United States and boost US production and exports.

Talks are expected to start this year.

"We do not know what the United States will propose," said Calzada.

"We have to act first to be sure that when we arrive at that negotiating table we are starting from a position of total strength."

One leftist opposition senator, Armando Rios Piter, has launched a legislative proposal to buy corn from Brazil and Argentina.

US "corn producers may have been fooled by Donald Trump when he said that Mexico was the only one benefiting from NAFTA," Rios told AFP.

"Now that they see what is at stake, they will have to change their minds."

US farmers concerned

Corn is Mexico's fourth-biggest import from the United States, after gasoline, diesel and natural gas.

Mexico imported $2.32 billion worth of corn in 2016 -- 10 percent more than the previous year, according to Mexican government figures.

By comparison, it imported just $17.7 million of corn from Argentina and $10 million from Brazil.

Mexico is also a major importer of US dairy products, pork, rice, wheat and soya.

Sleight said producers in five big corn-exporting US states have been lobbying lawmakers in Washington to stress how important NAFTA is for their business.

On January 23, agriculture industry leaders wrote to Trump saying that US food exports had quadrupled since NAFTA came into force in 1994.

"The sector in the US is struggling under the weight of low prices, reduced land values and rising interest rates, meaning farm profitability has declined", said analysis firm BMI Research.

"US farmers would suffer considerably from trade disruption with Mexico."

Merkel and Uruguay's Vazquez push to deepen EU-Mercosur ties

Angela Merkel intends to push trade talks between the EU and Mercosur nations. The chancellor has met with Uruguay's president to forge new bonds in the wake of Donald Trump's inauguration in the United States.

Deutsche Welle, 8 February 2017

On Wednesday, Chancellor Angela Merkel said new right-wing administrations in Latin America had improved the chances of an EU trade pact with  Mercosur, the region's primary trading bloc. The German chancellor's search for new trade partners has grown increasingly urgent for EU businesses after the election of US President Donald Trump cast doubt on the future of bilateral trade ties with the United States.

"We, as the European Union, if we perhaps don't advance or advance more slowly with a view to the United States - we will have to see - of course will continue to negotiate other trade agreements quickly," Merkel, who is facing an increasingly tough re-election fight, said on Wednesday. "We are negotiating with Japan, with India, with Australia, and we are negotiating with Mercosur."

Trump has said he will not allow the United States to sign on to the controversial Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership during his presidency.

"Before anything, we need to know what the agreement will be with the new US administration," Merkel said on Wednesday. "The topic of free trade will be important at the G20 meeting. We will see then what the priorities of the US administration are."

Founded in 1991, Mercosur entered into its first trade negotiations with the European Union in 1999. The bloc's members are Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil, after Venezuela was suspended in December. Merkel said Uruguay could prove a "motor" toward bringing negotiations to a beneficial end in Brussels.

'To continue pushing'

President Tabare Vazquez seeks to firm overseas bonds as Uruguay's neighbors experience economic hardships. He is headed for Finland next, and his trip will wrap up in Russia. But there may be a good reason why his first stop was Berlin.

"Germany is a fundamental member of the European Union," Vazquez said. "We have committed to keep pressing the negotiations to reach an agreement between Mercosur and the EU."

The president pointed out that Uruguay "has historically advocated for the demolition of barriers and the elimination of obstacles to commerce."

Vazquez also criticized Trump, especially his ban on refugees and travelers and immigrants from seven mostly Muslim countries. He said Uruguay had been built by immigrants from Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries. The indigenous population was largely wiped out by disease and colonialist slaughter by the end of the 1830s.

"We do not agree with making walls," Vazquez said on Wednesday. "We want to build bridges between nations. We do not believe that nations should discriminate on ethnic or religious grounds or on the basis of sexual preference." He added: "We believe in the peaceful search for solutions. Because of this, some of the actions of the president of the United States concern us. "

mkg/sms (EFE, Reuters, AFP, dpa, AP)

After poncho mockery, world leaders tone it down in Peru with shawls

Yahoo – AFP, Sam Reeves,  November 20, 2016

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group has a decades-old tradition of
getting presidents and prime ministers to don traditional garments of the host
country for their annual get-together (AFP Photo/Brendan Smialowski)

Lima (AFP) - After sparking ridicule several years ago by dressing world leaders in baggy ponchos, Peru toned it down Sunday by getting dignitaries at a major summit to wear shawls made from the fine wool of a mountain-dwelling creature called the vicuna.

From Chinese tunics to Philippine pineapple shirts, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group has a decades-old tradition of getting presidents and prime ministers to don traditional garments of the host country for their annual get-together.

And Peru was not going to disappoint as heads of APEC nations gathered in the capital Lima, with leaders appearing for the traditional "family photo" with long, brown shawls made from the coveted wool of the vicuna -- a llama-like animal -- draped over their shoulders.

The global power players, among them US President Barack Obama, China's Xi Jinping and Japan's Shinzo Abe, looked relaxed, smiling and waving as they lined up in alphabetical order according to their countries.

By opting for shawls rather than ponchos, the attire generally associated with the South American nation, Peru may have been seeking to avoid the mockery that accompanied its hosting of the 2008 APEC summit.

On that occasion, world leaders appeared in voluminous ponchos, leading some to poke fun at the unflattering, shapeless garments for resembling potato sacks.

The wool of the vicuna, an animal found in the Andes mountains, is among the rarest natural fibers in the world, making it extremely costly and prized by fashion designers.

It was a relatively modest APEC fashion parade compared to previous editions, 

which have sometimes led to awkward moments (AFP Photo/Brendan Smialowski)

A businesswoman working in the fashion industry in Peru told AFP the price of such a shawl would be "between $1,500 and $3,000, depending on the quality."

The vicuna, which as the national animal of Peru appears in the country's coat of arms, was revered by the Incas, whose ancient empire stretched over a large part of South America. Only members of royalty were permitted to wear its wool.

This year's was a relatively modest APEC fashion parade compared to previous editions, which have sometimes led to awkward moments.

When Vietnam hosted the summit several years ago, world leaders looked visibly uncomfortable as they shuffled onto the stage for a photo-op wearing the tight-fitting traditional "ao dai" tunics, which are now most commonly worn by women.

The tradition harks back to 1993, when US President Bill Clinton put his APEC colleagues in macho-looking leather bomber jackets -- the kind worn by World War II fighter pilots.

A look back #APECsummit traditional fashion as Peru chooses vicuna wool shawls after 2008 poncho mockery https://t.co/5hQDxxgqV8 pic.twitter.com/o8S01KOMdx

— AFP news agency (@AFP) November 20, 2016

Related Article:

China takes the driver's seat on free trade

Asia-Pacific leaders pose for the traditional family photo at the APEC summit in Lima

Asean Establishes Landmark Economic and Security Bloc

Jakarta Globe, Trinna Leong, November 22, 2015

Asean leaders joined China's Premier Li Keqiang at the summit in Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia. (AFP Photo/Fred Dufour)

Kuala Lumpur. Southeast Asian nations on Sunday established a formal community that attempts to create freer movement of trade and capital in an area of 625 million people with a combined economic output of $2.6 trillion.

The community declaration was signed by leaders of the 10- member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in Kuala Lumpur, this year's host of the group's annual summit.

Twelve years in the making, the Asean community is a landmark in the 48-year history of a group founded at the height of the Cold War as an anti-communist bulwark.

The Asean Community includes a political, security and socio-cultural dimension in a region with governments ranging from communist in Vietnam and quasi-military in Myanmar to the kingdom of Brunei and the boisterous democracy of the Philippines.

But it is the economic community that offers the most concrete opportunities for integration in a region whose combined gross domestic product (GDP) would make it the world's seventh-largest economy.

In practice, Asean has already virtually eliminated tariff barriers among the 10 countries, said Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, the summit host, at the signing ceremony. "We now have to ensure that we create a truly single market and production base, with freer movement of goods and services."

At the closing news conference, however, he said Asean had no specific deadline for achieving zero tariffs, but would aim for "meaningful deliverables that can be done every year when we meet at the Asean summit."

The combined GDP of the Asean economies is expected to grow from $2.6 trillion to $4.7 trillion by 2020, Najib said, and could become the world's fourth-largest economy as a bloc as early as 2030.

The countries aim to harmonize economic strategies, recognize each other's professional qualifications and consult more closely on macroeconomic and financial policies.

They have also agreed to enhance the connectivity of their transportation infrastructure and communications, better facilitate electronic transactions, integrate industries to promote regional sourcing, and enhance private-sector involvement in the economy.

Eight groups of professionals will be able to work more easily throughout the region: engineers, architects, nurses, doctors, dentists, accountants, surveyors and tourism professionals.

Asean groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Reuters

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ASEAN nations establish regional economic community to compete with India, China


"Message for South America" - Nov 16, 2015 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - New


"The End of History" -  Nov 20, 2010 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll)

" ... South America and the New Energy

South America is starting to consider the same thing. My partner was just there and I allowed him to see the energy of the potential future in that land.

I would like to paint history for you regarding South America. There was a time when every single country had a dictator. Less than 15 years ago, they had failing economies and currencies that were worthless. Trouble and strife and killings were the norm. Marauding drug lords openly killed in the streets and corruption was everywhere. Even the politicians created fear and many disappeared overnight, never to be seen again. Today it isn't that way. Today, there is an ongoing stability as one country after another brings a new, positive, stable energy to their cultures. So, without a concentrated effort by any kind of multi-national leadership or direction, how could this have changed in only 15 years?

Within the entire continent, there's only one dictator left. What's happening? If you think that's amazing, there is a move afoot that you're not going to hear about yet. But they're discussing it right now, so let me tell you what they're thinking. "What would happen if we took these countries and eliminated the borders?" Sound familiar? They're talking about it. In back rooms where nobody is reporting it, they're saying, "What about a plan of eventually having one currency from the top of Columbia to the bottom of Chile? And we would be strong and we would be unified." And dear ones, I'm here to tell you, that it's going to work, and it might not take 50 years. Soon the one dictator will be gone, and the unification can begin.

There's a shift happening on this planet ...."