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The Mercosur summit ended in Brasilia without a final presidential declaration, in the midst of a new crisis among members due to differences in trade negotiations outside the bloc and the decision to reduce the Common External Tariff (AEC) applied to products from other countries.
After two days of meetings in Brasilia and despite progress on one of the most difficult issues to date – the reduction of the CET – Uruguay decided that it would only sign the declaration, which would include the possibility of reducing the CET, if the other countries agreed. allude in the text a permission to that Montevideo begin negotiations of independent trade agreements without the other members of the block.
The current Mercosur rules veto this type of negotiation, and Argentina and Paraguay are against it. Brazil, for its part, agrees with the flexibility -with different speeds for negotiations outside the bloc- and agrees to discuss it, but without the Uruguayan imposition.
Uruguay has started talks with China and intends to open others, and has already declared that it will do so independently of the bloc, despite the fact that Mercosur rules prevent it.
At the same time, the country is not opposed to reducing the CET. At this point, the expected divergence was between Brazil, which proposed the change, and Argentina, which resisted. The two governments, however, reached a 10% reduction agreement for the vast majority of products, which was also accepted by Paraguay and Uruguay.
“The issue of the AEC does not generate problems, there is consensus on that. The problem is that they (Uruguay) want to link the two things, AEC and full flexibility so that they can negotiate unilaterally,” said the Brazilian ambassador.
He added that Uruguay’s position is now blocking. “A consensus was sought until the end, but this link will not be accepted. It is an unnecessary waste,” he said.
Without getting what it wanted, the Uruguayan government refused to sign a declaration by the four Mercosur presidents. At the end of the meeting, only a press release signed by the governments of Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay was released.
