The foreign ministries of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay issued a joint note saying they may take “measures” to “protect their interests” given the intention of their other Mercosur partner, Uruguay, to submit a request for accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement. Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) without considering the other members of the South American bloc.
According to a statement issued by Argentina’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the representatives of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay informed Uruguay that “the three countries reserve the right to adopt any measures they deem necessary to protect their interests in the legal field and commercial”.
The letter was presented this Wednesday by the national coordinators of the three countries before the Mercosur Common Market Group.
Uruguayan Foreign Minister Francisco Bustillo is on an official trip to Oceania, where he plans to present in New Zealand the official request for Uruguay’s accession to the Trans-Pacific Agreement, as reported by President Luis Lacalle Pou during a meeting held on November 18 with representatives. of different Uruguayan political parties.
Through an eventual entry into the Trans-Pacific Agreement, Uruguay would seek preferential conditions for access to markets such as Japan, where Uruguayan beef currently enters at average tariffs of over 30%.
It also aims to gain a better position in Asian markets against direct competitors in agricultural products such as Australia and New Zealand, which are already members of the CPTPP.
LACALLE POU’S AGENDA AND THE INTERSECTION WITH ALBERT FERNANDEZ
The new dispute comes days before the next Mercosur summit, which will be on December 5 and 6 in Montevideo. But it is not the first time that Lacalle Pou’s aim to advance an opening agenda outside the regional bloc has created a crossroad with his partners.
Lacalle Pou also promotes Uruguay moving forward on a free trade agreement with China and another with Turkey. In particular, the deal with China is the one that generated the most resistance from Argentine President Alberto Fernandez. The elected president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has not yet expressed a concrete position on this issue.
Repeated demands from Uruguay to make Mercosur more flexible generated a direct cross between Fernández and Lacalle Pou at a summit of the bloc’s presidents held by video conference on March 26, 2021.
“We don’t want to be a burden to anyone, if we are a burden, they can take another ship, but we are not a burden to anyone,” Fernández said on that occasion before a claim from Lacalle Pou.
WHAT DOES “MAKING MERCOSUR MORE FLEXIBLE” MEAN?
Uruguay understands the idea of making Mercosur “flexible” as getting the consent of the bloc’s partners so that one of the members can advance trade deals with third countries without the need for the others to go hand in hand.
Argentina has repeated on more than one occasion that a kind of agreement like the one promoted by Uruguay with the Asian giant damages the founding foundations of the bloc.
Meanwhile, the Uruguayan government has signaled that it will continue with its opening agenda anyway, even if its Mercosur partners disagree.
With information from Bloomberg Línea
