Uruguayan president criticizes Mercosur protectionism and defends trade liberalization

The president of Uruguay, Luis Alberto Lacalle Pou, condemned, this Tuesday (24), the protectionist nature of Mercosur and said that his country seeks to open up commercially to the world.

The declaration took place during the meeting of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), an event taking place in Argentina and with the participation of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT).

This Wednesday (25th), Lula will meet with the Uruguayan representative in Montevideo with the aim of dissuading him from negotiating trade agreements underway with countries like China and New Zealand.

Lula da Silva and the president of Argentina, Alberto Fernández, seek to strengthen Mercosur and assess that an individual agreement between Uruguay and foreign countries will harm the economic bloc.

However, Lacalle Pou, who is of the center right, considers that an agreement between the country and China does not exclude it from Mercosur and, this Tuesday, he even invited the other members of the bloc to negotiate with him.

Lula da Silva is considering creating trade compensation measures for Uruguay as a way of keeping the country away from negotiations for ongoing agreements.

“If there is a better proposal from any of the countries in the bloc, we are willing to negotiate. We are going to talk tomorrow with Lula in Montevideo,” the Uruguayan told reporters.

Lacalle Pou reinforced, however, the criticism of the bloc, said that Mercosur is the fifth most protectionist region on the planet and asked the leaders present to understand the importance of advancing in global integration.

“China is our biggest trading partner. We understand the positions of other countries that have different interests and positions, but Uruguay needs to open up to the world. And that is a view of this government. We have been walking and we are at this stage”, he declared.

With information from Gazeta do Povo