A second tête-à-tête after dinner, at the start of a six-day tour of Latin America. Emmanuel Macron met on Sunday, November 17, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with his counterpart Javier Milei, with the dual objective of “defend” French farmers mobilized against the trade agreement with Mercosur and to convince this ultraliberal not to go it alone on the climate.
“We are going to talk about our commercial interests, our trade, the defense of our agriculture and our farmers”Emmanuel Macron announced on social networks on Saturday in the plane that was taking him to Argentina. “We don’t always think the same thing on many subjects,” he added, “but it’s very useful to discuss to prepare” the G20, in which both men will participate.
Sunday, the Head of State, accompanied by his wife Brigitte Macron, paid a very symbolic tribute to the victims, particularly French, of the Argentine military dictatorship, in the Santa Cruz church, a place of memory of the resistance against the dictatorship (1976-1983). “We will not forget you”he told relatives of victims, but without the Argentine president. Then he joined the Casa Rosada, the presidential palace.
In France, supported by a political class united in rare unanimity, farmers are mobilizing against the free trade treaty that the European Commission hopes to sign by the end of the year with Mercosur, the regional bloc which includes the Argentina and Brazil. They fear a surge in Latin American meat and warn of unfair competition from products not subject to the strict environmental and health standards in force in Europe.
“France will not sign this Mercosur treaty as it stands,” Emmanuel Macron hammered to the press on Sunday evening on the tarmac before flying to Rio de Janeiro, where the G20 is being held on Monday and Tuesday. “It would be very bad for our agriculture,” he declared, wishing “to reassure” French farmers and saying they don't believe “in the pre-agreement as it was negotiated”.
Emmanuel Macron in Argentina
“I have been opposing this treaty for seven years”added the head of state. “President Milei told me himself that he was not satisfied with this agreement”he assured. “We cannot ask French farmers to change their practices, to do without phytosanitary products and to open our market to bring in products that do not respect the same criteria [de qualité]”developed Emmanuel Macron. “We are for open agriculture but for commercial contracts that are fair”he summarized.
The President of the Republic also spoke about the Paris climate agreement, while Javier Milei is an admirer of Donald Trump, a climate skeptic like the Republican who has just been elected head of the United States. Thus, Argentina has just withdrawn its delegation from the COP29 climate negotiations in Baku. “We have debates but we do not agree” on this subject, Emmanuel Macron simply declared Sunday evening, without elaborating further on Argentina's position.
