Hola de Belgica, amigos!
Excuse me for not posting this in Spanish (or Portuguese for Brazilians), but even though I’m actively learning Spanish I prefer not to butcher the language by posting it in Spanish here đ
Anyway, I saw an article recently about EU officials seeing that, in the light of the orange fool’s tarrifs, the EU should seek trading partnerships with Latin-America. They say there are huge, mutually benificial opportunuties there.
What dio Latin-American people think of this? I realize Latin-America is not just “one country” but a multitude of countries, cultures and people but I figured this was the best subreddit to ask this.
I would find it great if we started to seek partnerships with reliable partners instead of the US.
How do you guys see this?
Comments
I think Latin America has WAY more in common with the EU that with the US anyways. Culturally Latin America is very similar to European latin countries, obviously Spain and Portugal, but also Italy.
I also saw that Colombia is going with the Grippen instead of the F-16. All of this seem like good news, really. Personally I feel like Europe treats LatAm with respect, something the US seems incapable of doing.
There’s still this EU-Mercosur trade agreement in the works, nothing new there
I’m all for it.
Tell France to approve Mercosul-EU trade deal bro.
Marvelous opportunity for commodities exchanges like coffee and other crops from LatAm for EU investment and cars as an example. I hope both people can seize this opportunity
>What do Latin-American people think of this?
Good, and I think the trading partnership you are referring to (or at least the one that is most famous here) is the EU-Mercosur one. This FTA is this close đ¤ to coming out. The only huge EU player that has been trying to delay it is France (sigh), but they seem to be changing their discourse lately.
It’s great.
Why trade with the USA when you can trade with other Latins (Portugal, Spain, France, Italy), or just more reliable partners in general?
Geographical proximity is a big factor, but if I’m hungry, I’d rather walk 30 minutes to a grocery store than attempt to get food from a dumpster 5 minutes from my house.
I will always celebrate every inch of distance from the US, in any aspect. I just hope that the terms of the agreement are mutually favorable, EU doesn’t have the best reputation about how it treats developing countries.
It would have happened years ago, but euro rules seek to hinder foreign traders and that’s why it still hasn’t happened.
Absolutely.
If there was ever a time to ramp up trade within LATAM and with the EU, it is now.
If the US wants to isolate, let them.
It’s time to make peace with Cuba and Venezuela. Venezuela particularly will be crucial in securing oil deals so we can buy more from them and less from the US.
Well, there were the European Union and Mercosur trade agreement negotiations, which the European Union didn’t seem to have any real intention of concluding, as they were using false environmental reasons to defend protectionist practices…
I believe that now there is a greater chance of it happening, but that MERCOSUR is in a more advantageous position to change the negotiation.
General consensus is that it will be great. And don’t worry about the language, you’re supposed to write in english in this channel
Absolutely. Von Der Leyen visited Chile not long ago and spoke exactly about this in the context of the Ukraine/Russia war and green energy. Many countries here will naturally tend to pivot towards China, I see trade with the US only declining in comparative terms so integration with EU economies could be a great opportunity for both parties as long as some of the industrial capacity is left here (which is where I hope legislation is going). Geopolitically it could be crucial too for the future of something like democracy still existing in 50 years or so.
The incentive to diversify international trade away from the US is there. The unspoken threat from the US doing what itâs doing has always being there but heavily discounted since it had not been exercised in a very long time. So the world accommodated the US and the US had an oversized weight to their opinion. If a small country got out of line then they would get swatted down and the world was ok with it.
All of a sudden the US switched from being the big mellow guy to the bully. So now the small guys have to react. The threat of economic destruction is overt and exercised so small countries have to bend over for now. The old soft power isnât coming back though so this is a one time opportunity for the US to use that card. Time for economies to join and reduce that threat.
It will be hard though because there has to be give and take. In the end whatever give has to happen will be less than the US targeting your economy. So starting between established blocks is the biggest bang for your buck. China is already moving in that direction.
I think it’s excellent, but I’m skeptical.
Europe talks a lot but does little, Europe is always talking about other countries imposing subsidies, condemning them and everything else, but a farmer in France is practically a public servant.
I hope this changes, for the sake of Europe itself, much of the economic stagnation on the European continent comes precisely from depriving its own people of cheaper goods
honestly, i always thought what we envision as a good society here has way more things in common with the EU then with the US (public healthcare, public education, welfare etc.) and we also have a lot in common as liberal democracies, so really itâs a win for both sides
the problem is protectionism in the EU itself, you guys still havenât approved the free trade agreement with mercosul for no reason other than protectionism
I think they should also be on Brics! Lets call us breucis!!!
Sorry to be that guy, I always say this and people get offended, but throughout history Europe has become rich based on unfair trade agreements (when not plainly stealing) with most of the world.
You are very used to getting cheap natural resources and selling expensive manufactures, thus enjoying a great quality of life at the expense of poverty everywhere else.
In the world we are heading into Europe has everything to lose, you will have to work more and earn less.
As for the agreement, it’s a huge opportunity for you but highly inconvenient for us because you have nothing to offer. Everything you produce is done way cheaper in southeast Asia and you haven’t any natural resources. If the service sector pulls an interesting deal (meaning if you are willing to earn less and work more) something may happen, but let me tell you that Europe is pretty screwed.
I think the EU would need to change some of its policies so that it’s more benefitial to us. For example, not being as strict with their trade partner’s use of GMOs.
Latin American countries should instead forge closer economic ties with China, India, Japan, South Korea, and Southeast Asian countries whose export products don’t compete with the Latin American ones in the international market (I’m referring to the agricultural and poultry exports).
All for it.
It’s very good for both us to unite ourselves. The less we depend on the USA the better. If being isolated in a global economy is what they want, so be it.
I would rather forge closer relationships with other countries that have a more âlive and let liveâ attitude such as China. Trading one imperial master for another seems stupid. China does business with everyone and doesnât tell them how to run their own countries. Europeans are even more obnoxious and stuck up than Americans.
It is really hard, our country is not compliant with a myriad of regulations and the EU don’t invest the money and expertise to overcome them.
Take for example the carbon stuff, they require us to modernize the ports, better infraestructure and environmental protections, but when they have to put the money where they mouth is they give like a few million dollars and call it a day.
I really hope we grow closer to china who takes seriously the green stuff, help to build ports-railroads and not just the virtue signaling we receive from europe.
Trade expert here from Ecuador. A big issue with South America is the lack of commercial infrastructure. So you may have really good products, if it’s alimentation good sanitary controls, good packaging, and the ability to get the permits from wherever. But what is lacking are the connections to connect small companies and Farmers groups, producer groups, to actual buyers and to facilitate financing and letters of credit. For instance, South America really doesn’t have the equivalent of Alibaba, you have to do it one by one by one.
It has been done.. called the portuges and spanish empireâŚ
Hell yeah I want to buy Jules Destrooper cookies at Chedraui.
EU taxes higher than the US but gets upset at the US if they tax the EU
Most of us would love that, and as a matter of fact we are trying to close a deal between Mercosur and the EU for more than 2 decades now. The deal is supposedly finalized but some individual EU nations are still stalling to approve it in their parliaments.
Culturally we love Europe, but dealing with you guys can be very frustrating some times. There is a feeling that Europeans are not that much interested in an equal partnership, but rather gain some advantage over us. For former colonies that sentiment can cause a lot of resentment.
Honestly I am excited by this new outlook in foreign relations caused by trump. I hope we can redefine Latin American – European relations into a close alliance and mutual cooperation. We surely share a lot more with each other than we do with China, the country that has been more willing to engage with Latin America in the past decades
oh now that their daddy americas wonât suck their titty they are coming to us.
as long as itâs fair trade though I fully support it.
Whatever creates more distance between latam and the US is amazing
You can start with the Mercosur agreement as a model and then expand to the rest of Latin America.
Iâm skeptical. Americans tend to make their intentions very clear, whether itâs intentional or not doesnât really matter, so youâre only dealing with their military and economic power. Europe, on the other hand, is far more methodical and sophisticated, which can be more dangerous. That lets them maintain a âgood guyâ façade that disarms people, but at the end of the day, theyâre just another global power looking to exploit underdeveloped countries, just like the U.S.
I mean, the more we diversify our trade partners the better
Come Gringo….
Give us your Euro…
The problem is that EU has treated Latin America with respect, see for example the last deal Brazil and France were negotiating and Macron behaved like South America was less than Europe.
I welcome any fair trade agreement, but as a consequence of orangeâs foolishness is that Europe will have to start talking with other continents with more respect.
Good, more trade and diversifying our trade partners is always good
Doubt there’s much to grow. Are you going to use more copper? Do you want non EU salmon? Are you going to increase your grape consumption during our harvest window? Our main imports from them are energy, and cars but we buy everyone’s cars.
I celebrate any trading partnerships, but I also think the French could have considered this before boycotting their government the past years as well. Macron was right.
Youâre not sorry for not posting in French or Dutch lol?
If the US is going to increase tariffs for everyone then it will only make them weaker as everyone else will look for a better deal elsewhere
Great
Latin American has been looking to China, more than Europe Europe, for several years already.
It won’t likely happen because the industrial model or the regions are not compatible specially in the agricultural sector which is huge in Mercosur and various EU countries wanna protect.Â
Asia is more important than Europe for the majority of Latin America
Most Latin American leaders won’t let the EU get away with the trade-in balances that the United States leaders have been allowing them to do for decades at the expense of taxpayers and jobs, until now that is. It’s not complicated.
I mean it would be fine as long as you guys don’t treat us as lesser partners and only try to extract cheap resources from our countries. We are no longer the exploitable countries we used to be.
This
Cocoa, Plantain, Coffe, Coconuts, Oranges, Wheat and any cereal… Yes, we can!
I would prefer Asian countries over European ones.
Is not an opportunity for the thick of the population, that works day by day and is barely making it. Just means the ones involved with exports will continue having that money
You prefer ppl on the other side of the Mediterranean rather than hispanic/lusophone diasporas. And I’m not kidding, just ask Italy (they could do a fast track like Spain does with Hispanics, citizenship in 2 years, but plainly want to restrict jus Sanguini)
2 average opportunity, there’s few things to offer to Latin America, mostly medical advances/medications and tourism. everything else is available in other LATAM countries or Asia,
Vai tomar no cu França, aceita a porra do acordo