Brazil FM warns EU-US on trade talks
April 6, 2013, 9:18 am

US President Barack Obama has signalled that he will push for the EU-US talks [Getty Images]

“We are concerned that they could agree on a framework which then they will want to impose on the rest of world trade”, he said.

However, he warned that “it’s no longer that easy for the developed countries to draft rules and then impose them on the rest”.

Patriota made the remarks before the Brazilian Senate Foreign Affairs Committee.

The Brazilian foreign minister said that when “two giants sit to discuss such issues there is also a strong possibility that something might emerge outside the framework and regulations of the World Trade Organisation.”

Although the idea of a US-EU free trade zone has been around for a while, nothing concrete has been achieved so far.

The European Union and the US announced at the beginning of this year that they will begin formal talks on a free-trade agreement, paving the way for what could be the biggest trade deal in history.

Most analysts feel that the emergence of China as an economic power along with the rise of other emerging markets has encouraged the US and Europe to unify in order to remain economic leaders.

The US President Barack Obama has signalled that he will push for the EU-US talks saying a free-trade deal would “boost American exports, support American jobs and level the playing field in the growing markets of Asia”.

The Huffington Post reported yesterday that the proposed trade deal “would grant corporations new political power to challenge an array of regulations both at home and abroad, according to an administration official involved in the negotiations.”

Brazil, along with its BRICS partners have upheld the centrality of the WTO in settling all trade disputes at the recently concluded 5th BRICS Summit in Durban.

“There is evidently a different international scenario and it is no longer possible for developed countries to impose packages on the rest, particularly since the main trade dynamism and growth has moved to the south-south axis,” noted the Brazilian foreign minister.

Peter Lavelle writing for The BRICS Post had reflected that the American and European public are in no mood for further integration considering the current climate of gloom.

However, he noted that, “Tighter economic integrations is not the selling point of a US-EU trading zone; the PR pitch is to counter the economic, financial, and monetary dynamism of the emerging market world.”

The BRICS Post