RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Economy Minister Paulo Guedes on Thursday reiterated that the Brazilian government does not want to leave MERCOSUR, but rather modernize the bloc. “We are not leaving MERCOSUR. We want to pursue integration, but it is not working as it should. We want to modernize MERCOSUR,” he said, speaking at an event held by the Industry Coalition.
Guedes assessed that the electric or hydrogen-powered car is a threat to the traditional automotive industry, citing the growth of Tesla. “The industry is being squeezed worldwide. Ford left Brazil not because of the government, but because it is struggling all over the world,” he added.
For the Minister, the Brazilian automotive industry was once a great focus of growth, but ended up trapped.
According to him, automakers are leaving Brazil for structural reasons. “Gradually, the automotive industry in Brazil became stiffer and limited to our neighbors, which is important. But we were the ones selling cars to Korea. We started producing before them,” he added.
Guedes recalled that the pandemic situation in Latin America currently prevents the negotiation of new automotive agreements. “If we were to go to Argentina now to talk about this, we would not even be received,” he concluded.