Argentine President Javier Milei said his country could leave the Mercosur bloc if it prevented the signing of a free trade deal with the United States.
Argentine President Javier Milei said on Wednesday he was ready to leave Mercosur, a trade bloc bringing together several South American countries, if this proved necessary to conclude a free trade agreement with Donald Trump’s United States. “If it was an extreme condition, yes,” said the head of state, responding to the question “would you leave Mercosur to make a free trade agreement with the United States?”, during a event organized by the Bloomberg agency on the sidelines of the Davos Economic Forum in Switzerland.
The Experts: Argentina after a year of Milei method – 10/12
The ultraliberal Argentine leader announced in December that he would seek to promote a free trade treaty in 2025 with the United States, now led by one of his allies, Donald Trump.
“We work very hard”
“We are working very hard” in this direction, he declared on Wednesday, two days after attending the inauguration ceremony of the 47th American president, which is to take place on Thursday by videoconference in Davos. Javier Milei did not specify whether he would negotiate this agreement alone or with his Mercosur partners, which theoretically does not authorize any bilateral negotiations without the agreement of other members. Discussions in 2022 between Uruguay and China had thus aroused opposition from other members.
-“However, let’s say that there are mechanisms to achieve this within Mercosur,” Javier Milei said on Wednesday.
“So we are saying that it is possible to achieve this without having to abandon what we have in Mercosur,” said Javier Milei, adding that he is working with the countries of the South American alliance so that this organization “ not be an obstacle to progress towards free trade.
Agreement with the EU on hold
Created in 1991, Mercosur, abbreviation of “southern common market”, brings together five countries: Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and since 2023 Bolivia – Venezuela has been suspended since 2016.
In December, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the conclusion of negotiations for the EU-Mercosur agreement, which has yet to be ratified. But several countries are not satisfied with the agreement, starting with France which is trying to rally other European countries to block the agreement.
