Haddad criticizes the Uruguayan president after his comment on ideological “club”

During a meeting with the Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo (Fiesp) on Monday (30), the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, criticized the President of Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou.

The Uruguayan had commented on an ideological “club” in Mercosur.

“He (Lacalle Pou) is almost asking for a license to do a free trade agreement with China alone […] He wants the best of both worlds: to stay in Mercosur and do a free trade agreement, which, in my opinion, is difficult to reconcile,” Haddad said.

Last week, when criticizing the presence of representatives from Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua in the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) during a meeting in Argentina, Lacalle Pou said that the organization should not “have the character of a club of ideological friends.”

The Uruguayan president has been fighting with Brazilian President Lula da Silva and the presidents of Paraguay and Argentina to seek bilateral agreements with other nations, especially China, without the intermediary of Mercosur.

The three countries have already expressed their disapproval of Uruguay’s initiative in a statement and said they have already informed Lacalle Pou about the adoption of “any measures they deem necessary to defend their legal and commercial interests.”

With information from Brasil Sem Medo