In this context, we welcome the work towards a possible free trade agreement between Canada and MERCOSUR. MERCOSUR has more than 300 million people. Mercosur`s strategic objectives include not only improving trade and economic cooperation, but also supporting democratic governance and the rule of law. It is important for Canada to diversify its trading relationships and deepen its engagement with its hemispheric partners. Political changes and economic challenges in Latin America could either boost the region`s largest trading bloc or lead to its obsolescence. The agreement would increase imports into Canada related to deforestation of the Amazon rainforest. According to an estimate by the Brazilian Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock, the trade deal will increase export earnings from agricultural products by $9.7 billion, including up to $1.8 billion a year in meat products from Brazil. Regional integration began to slow down after the devaluation of the Brazilian currency in 1999 and the Argentine financial crisis in 2001, and since then, trade disputes and other tensions between the two countries have erupted. In 2011, Argentina cancelled automatic licensing for hundreds of imports, leading to delays in ports and contributing to a 15 percent drop in Brazilian exports the following year. On February 23, 2018, Canada announced the successful conclusion of the exploratory talks on a comprehensive free trade agreement with MERCOSUR. The 9. In March 2018, Canada and MERCOSUR agreed to open negotiations on a comprehensive free trade agreement between Canada and MERCOSUR.

In addition, Canada could propose to build on the CSR provisions of the MERCOSUR Investment Agreement, as well as the sustainable development chapter of CETA, to integrate investor responsibility more fully and comprehensively. In November 2004, at a meeting between the President of Brazil and the Prime Minister of Canada, a joint statement was issued that included a commitment to promote trade relations between MERCOSUR and Canada through ”negotiations on improving market access in the areas of goods, services and investment related to the creation of a future Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA)”. In February 2005, MERCOSUR and Canada held preliminary talks at the first meeting of the Canada-MERCSOUR Trade and Investment Dialogue. IISD colleagues report on voluntary sustainability standards in various commodity markets through the State of Sustainability Standards. We are working with the World Economic Forum and others to explore how voluntary standards align with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and how trade can support that alignment. The potential benefits of a Free Trade Agreement between Canada and Mercosur for key Canadian sectors. The Union`s highest decision-making body, the Council of the Common Market, is a high-level forum for the coordination of foreign and economic policies. The chairman of the group rotates every six months between the titular members in alphabetical order. Other bodies are the Common Market Group, which coordinates macroeconomic policies; a commercial commission; a parliament, known as Parlasur, which has an advisory function; and the Structural Convergence Fund, which coordinates regional infrastructure projects.

Scott Vaughan has served as An Advisor to the World Trade Organization (WTO) Secretariat, Chief of Economy and Trade at the NAFTA Environment Committee, and Director of the Sustainable Development Department of the Organization of American States (OAS). Mercosur was founded in 1991 when Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay signed the Treaty of Asuncion [PDF], an agreement calling for the ”free movement of goods, services and factors of production between countries.” The four countries agreed to abolish tariffs, introduce a common external tariff of 35% on certain imports from outside the bloc and pursue a common commercial policy towards third countries and blocs. The founding members hoped to form a common market similar to that of the European Union and were even considering introducing a common currency. In 2016, Canada`s bilateral merchandise trade with the Bloc totalled nearly $8.1 billion. Canadian foreign direct investment in the bloc has been estimated at $14.7 billion, and the bloc`s total stock of foreign direct investment is estimated at $19.7 billion. MERCOSUR`s reciprocal trade in services between Canada and Argentina and Brazil reached nearly US$1.3 billion in 2015. Greenpeace Canada recently received meeting notes through an Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) request indicating that our federal government plans to continue negotiations with Brazil`s far-right Bolsonaro government on the Mercosur Free Trade Agreement. Building on the Brazilian model developed in 2014, the regional agreement offers a new opportunity to advance investment cooperation and promote investment flows.

Rather than focusing on investment protection, their main objective is to facilitate investment flows and cooperation. It creates a dispute settlement system instead of an adversarial dispute settlement mechanism through investor-state dispute settlement. As a last resort, it provides for the settlement of disputes between the State and the State. This approach could also be followed in the agreement between Canada and MERCOSUR. Canada is currently negotiating a free trade agreement (FTA) with Mercosur, a trade bloc and customs union composed of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. Mercosur as a bloc represents a GDP of more than $3 trillion and a population of $261 million in 2019. Standards: A Canada-MERCOSUR chapter on sustainable development should also support sustainability standards and complement the example of CETA`s chapter on sustainable development and the inclusion of eco-labels and CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) standards. An agreement between Canada and MERCOSUR should include not only standards for clean technologies, but also a wide range of products that support many working families through sustainable forestry, sustainable fishing, sustainable agriculture and other raw materials of export interest, particularly sustainable mining and their products in value chains. In the chapter on inclusive trade, the agreement will contain, inter alia, provisions on employment, gender and environmental issues, making it a modern agreement and an instrument for social inclusion.

The new leaders in Argentina and Brazil, as well as the suspension of Venezuela, have given Mercosur the opportunity to revive its first goals, analysts say. The bloc resumed trade talks with the European Commission in 2017 and officials reached a historic draft agreement in June 2019, twenty years to the day after negotiations began. The agreement, which abolishes tariffs on about 90% of Mercosur`s exports to the EU over a ten-year period and opens up public procurement to suppliers from both blocs, now needs to be ratified by all EU and Mercosur member states. Analysts warn that populist politicians and political interest groups on both sides of the Atlantic could once again delay progress. In South America, most of the trade skepticism comes from automakers, especially automakers, who in the past were protected from European competition by high tariffs. .