ISDS Case Map
Mercosur
The President of Uruguay stated that negotiations with Chinese authorities are “progressing”. However, the processes of the Asian country advance at a “slower” pace, the head of the South American Government said.
In Brussels, several EU diplomats believe France could change its mind as geopolitical tensions following the war in Ukraine and the coronavirus pandemic strengthen the case for the 27-nation bloc to diversify its trading relationships.
The deal as negotiated is in principle a neocolonial, extractivist instrument: intended to secure EU imports of commodities and raw materials from South America, while increasing EU exports of industrial and chemical products.
Despite the ongoing devastation, and with the Amazon likely at an irreversible environmental tipping point, the European Union continues to push for a free trade agreement with Mercosur which would increase the pressure on the region.
There can be no EU-Mercosur deal without mirror clauses that would force producers from both sides of the world to respect the same environmental and health standards, French President Emmanuel Macron told farmers in Paris this weekend.
It is time to fundamentally change trade relations to put the environment, climate and human rights at the centre and dismantle the legacy of neo-colonial economics.
France is waiting to see if Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's return to power in Brazil will allow progress on climate and deforestation issues that remain red lines for Paris in any EU-Mercosur trade deal, its agriculture minister said.
Under Argentina's pro-tempore presidency, Mercosur will try to clinch a Free Trade Agreement with Singapore, according to Foreign Ministry sources.
The election of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as president of Brazil has raised the possibility of a free-trade deal between China and the Southern Common Market (Mercosur).
For more than two decades, the European Union and Mercosur laboriously negotiated a trade deal they agreed but never signed. Now, both sides want to finalise it to create a necessary partnership amid the global dispute between the United States and China.
