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MNI INTERVIEW: Time Runs Short For EU-NZ, Latam Trade Deals

The European Union needs to complete trade deals with Chile, Mexico and New Zealand by October or else negotiations run the risk of being bogged down in politics ahead of elections to the European Parliament in May 2024, the vice chair of the parliament’s international trade committee told MNI.

Iuliu Winkler would also like to see the trade agreement with South America’s Mercosur bloc finalised before the end of the current European Parliament, though he conceded that chances for that are fading following recent vociferous public opposition from French President Emmanuel Macron.

“I would be very keen to see these FTAs on our table and I would also be very happy to see a revisit of the Mercosur discussion – but that’s a big problem in the Council,” he said in an interview. “It’s a concluded FTA but politically we cannot discuss it.”

EU leaders are due to hold a strategic discussion on trade at their March 23-24 summit in Brussels, with a response to the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act and the idea of a Critical Raw Materials Club of western democracies key elements in talks. (See MNI: EU Green Deal Seen Tapping Existing Funds, Leveraged)

RAW MATERIALS CLUB

But finalisation of the advanced framework trade deal with Chile, a modernised global agreement with Mexico and an FTA with New Zealand would be “realistic options for 2023,” he said.

“If we are discussing raw materials then we should ratify Chile and Mexico, that would be one part of the strategic discussions.”

The other part of the strategic approach is the EU’s broader concept of a raw materials club of western democracies, discussions on which are currently taking place in the EU-U.S. Trade and Technology Council forum, which is also seeking a solution to the dispute over IRA subsidies for U.S. industry.

Winkler saw little chance of progress in the talks with the U.S., either on the IRA or on wider, multilateral topics, such as reform of the World Trade Organisation.

“It seems that there is absolutely no progress on this from the U.S., and I don’t see any progress on WTO issues – and without the U.S. we don’t have a WTO.”

MNI Brussels Bureau | david.thomas.ext@marketnews.com
MNI Brussels Bureau | david.thomas.ext@marketnews.com

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