ISDS Case Map
Mercosur
After a lull in the first half of the year, there appears to be movement on various fronts of SA's trade agenda.
Little by little, South America is dividing itself into two very different trade blocks. Mercosur, based on Brazil and Argentina and recently joined by Venezuela, is relatively protectionist and suspicious of bilateral trade deals with the United States. Most countries on the Pacific seaboard are committed to free trade with both el norte and Asia.
A top Argentine trade official was quoted in Bs. Aires Tuesday as saying the Free Trade Area of the Americas, or FTAA, a hemispheric commerce initiative pushed by the Bush administration, "is dead."
Nature abhors a vacuum, and so when regional organisations go making ostensibly grandiose claims that they will create a single currency, seek economic convergence, or establish an army, it is easy to speculate that these are not articulated outside a context.
In this interview, Raúl Zibechi discusses the challenges of the Evo Morales administration in Bolivia, the power and role of Bolivian social movements, projects for regional integration such as People's Trade Agreement and the Bolivarian Alternative for Latin America and the region's new situation after the electoral victories of various "progressive" governments.
During the triangular IBSA (India, Brazil and South Africa) political summit on September 13 in Brazil, Mercosur is likely to propose South African Customs Union (SACU) and India the creation of a working group to explore the modalities of a trilateral free trade agreement (T-FTA) among them.
Brazil requested Portugal to support an agreement between the Southern Common Market and European Union.
The Southern Common Market Claims Court is hearing Uruguay's case against Argentina due to road blocks by Argentinean citizens on international routes.
The Mercosur wants to return to free trade treaty talks with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in September, after the holiday period in the Arab world and before Ramadan, the holy month that this year should begin around September 22. The idea is to organize a meeting between representatives of both blocs in Riyadh, the Saudi capital.
Brazil Trade and Industry Minister Luiz Fernando Furlan said Monday that Mexico could join the South American trade block Mercosur within a year.
