Tension in Mercosur: Uruguay in the crosshairs after requesting entry into the Trans-Pacific Agreement

First modification: 12/03/2022 – 02:58

Mercosur member countries have Uruguay in their sights prior to the presidents’ summit and have threatened to adopt retaliatory measures for negotiating bilateral agreements.

Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay issued a joint statement with the Mercosur Common Market Group addressed to Uruguay on Wednesday. The three countries warned that “they reserve the right to adopt any measures they deem necessary to defend their interests in the legal and commercial spheres” in the event that Uruguay continues with its individual negotiations.

The partners spoke out against “the measures of the Uruguayan Government aimed at the individual negotiation of trade agreements with tariff dimensions” and before the intention of the partner to present a petition for adhesion to the Comprehensive and Progressive Treaty of Trans-Pacific Partnership, CPTPP.

Uruguay wants to have countries like Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam, which represent 13% of global GDP, as partners.

But Mercosur’s rules allow its members to negotiate free trade agreements with other countries in conjunction with their partners and veto individual negotiations.

The divergences occur only days before the summit that the presidents of the four countries will have in Montevideo and in which Uruguay will transmit the protempore presidency to Argentina.

“(The Summit) is going to be entertaining and we are going to talk about these issues because international law assists us, recent events of decisions that are not made by consensus assist us, for example the first reduction in tariffs agreed between Brazil and Argentina,” commented Lacalle Pou.

Uruguay has also taken steps to negotiate a bilateral free trade agreement with China.

with EFE