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)
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