French President Challenges Bolsonaro and Threatens Not to Sign Trade Agreement

By Arkady Petrov

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – After rebutting German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who said she wanted a “clear discussion” with the president on deforestation, president Jair Bolsonaro has now been confronted by French President Emmanuel Macron: “If Brazil leaves the Paris Agreement, as far as we are concerned, we cannot sign a trade agreement with them.”

The statement was given to journalists in Japan before a G20 meeting and concerned the trade agreement aimed at signing a pact between the European Union and Mercosur — which includes Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. If successful, the negotiation will lead to one of the most significant free trade agreements in the world, with over 770 million consumers.

Macron added that the use of pesticides influences the progress of negotiations. “We are asking our farmers to stop using pesticides, we are asking our companies to produce less carbon, to have a competitive cost,” the French president said. “So we are not going to suddenly say that we are going to allow the entry of products from countries that do not respect any of this.”

On Tuesday, June 24th, 340 European and South American NGOs, including Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, asked the EU to “immediately” stop the talks “because of the deterioration of human rights and the ecological situation in Brazil” since President Jair Bolsonaro’s inauguration in January.

In 2018, the EU and Mercosur traded almost €88 billion euros (approximately US$100 billion) in goods. South American countries mainly exported their agricultural products, while European countries exported their industrial and pharmaceutical products.

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