Brazil is waiting on an offer from the European Union to advance a trade agreement alongside other Mercosur countries with the European bloc, the Minister for Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, Mauro Borges, said Thursday (Aug. 7). “We are waiting for an indication that the European Union is consulting with its member countries,” he said, explaining that no deadlines have been set for a reply.

But Borges admitted that Brazil could press ahead of its Mercosur peers towards a deal with the EU if it finds that its peers are moving in a slower pace, as was the case with the tariff reduction deal with member countries of the Pacific Alliance – namely Chile, Colombia, and Peru. “Concerning Mercosur agreements with neighbor countries, the process of tax reduction is going much faster, ie, we are already operating in the fast track of tax reduction. This has often been the case with trade agreements in Latin America.” Still, he went on to point out that although it is still a possibility, Brazil would not like to step ahead of its Mercosur partners.

The minister advocated multilateralism to strengthen trade integration with the EU, the United States, and China, while not overlooking the need for more integration in Latin America. He said an agreement with the EU would enable the emergence of a productive specialization in Brazil's diverse industrial base with technological cooperation. Therefore, he says a EU deal is critical in terms of gains in scale.

About strengthening production integration in Latin America, Borges noted that Brazil has recommended bringing forward economic agreements with countries of the Pacific Alliance in South America, with a view to a free trade status in 2019. The minister believes that such integration would position Brazil to take great strides in the area of trade by increasing the current total trade of $500 billion to about $1 trillion over the next ten years.