Category World News

According to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the two countries’ long-awaited free trade agreement have come to an agreement.

Von der Leyen and her Mercosur counterparts announced on Friday in Montevideo, Uruguay’s capital, that a deal had been reached after negotiations lasting more than 20 years and five years after the initial agreement.

“This is a win-win agreement”, von der Leyen said during a news conference alongside the presidents of the main Mercosur nations, including Argentina and Brazil.

“This agreement is not just an economic opportunity. It is a political necessity”, she added. “I know that strong winds are coming in the opposite direction, towards isolation and fragmentation, but this agreement is our near response”.

More than 700 million people who make up nearly 25% of the world’s GDP are covered by the agreement’s plan to establish one of the largest free trade zones.

Much like the US-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement, its goal is to reduce tariffs and trade barriers, making it easier for businesses on both sides to export goods.

Mercosur comprises Brazil – which makes up the lion’s share of the bloc’s territory, economic output and population – along with Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia, the newest member. Venezuela’s membership has been suspended indefinitely.

The pact was praised by South American leaders, but some of the countries in Europe do not.

Von der Leyen’s announcement on Friday “regards only her,” according to France, who leads a group of EU member states with whom the country’s trade minister, Sophie Primas, continues to object.

“Today is not the end of the story”, Primas told the AFP news agency in a statement. “This only commits the commission, not the]EU] member states”.

15 of the 27 EU members, who make up 65 percent of the EU’s population, and a simple majority in the European Parliament, must approve the trade agreement.

Copa-Coge, a member of the European farmers’ organization, reiterated its opposition to the agreement and re-instated its protests on Monday in Brussels. The farmers argued that unfair competition would result from Mercosur products if they were sold outside EU standards.

“Real, profitable opportunities”

Von der Leyen claimed that the pact would benefit about 60, 000 businesses that export to the Mercosur region in remarks made to her “fellow Europeans” and perhaps those who are more skeptical, such as farmers.

She claimed that the agreement “will open up significant business opportunities” and that they will “benefit from reduced tariffs, simpler customs procedures, and preferential access to some crucial raw materials.”

“To our farmers”, she said, “we have heard you, listened to your concerns, and we are acting on them. Strong safeguards are included in this agreement to safeguard your livelihoods.

Poland said last week that it opposed the free trade agreement in its current form, while Italy claimed on Thursday that there were no prerequisites for signing off on a deal.

The agreement is largely opposed by environmental organizations in Europe. Friends of the Earth called it a “climate-wrecking” deal.

Meanwhile, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz hailed the conclusion of the deal.

“After more than 20 years of negotiations, the Mercosur countries and the EU have reached a political agreement”, he said in a social media post.

“The agreement has overcome a significant challenge. More growth and competitiveness will result in a free market for more than 700 million people.

After more than 20 years of negotiations, the #Mercosur countries and the EU have reached a political agreement. The agreement’s biggest challenge has been overcome. More growth and competitiveness will result in a free market for more than 700 million people.

Germany’s trade and industry associations also welcomed the move.

“Such important agreements must not take 25 years”, BGA trade lobby President Dirk Jandura said in a statement, adding that it was now up to the German government to ensure there is a majority for the “milestone” agreement.

The head of Germany’s BDI industry lobby group, Siegfried Russwurm, said the announcement was very good news for German and European companies as well as for their economies.

The trade agreement sends a clear and strategic signal for free and rules-based trade, according to Russwurm in a statement.

Spain also asserts that the agreement is crucial for the bloc as it seeks to diversify its trade following the bloc’s reliance on China and the near-closure of the Russian market during the conflict in Ukraine.

Spain and Germany see Mercosur as a potential reliable source of crucial minerals, such as lithium, which are used in batteries and are necessary for Europe’s green transition.

Greta Thunberg, a well-known activist and environmentalist, is the subject of Marc Lamont Hill’s conversation.

A plan to take immigrants from other nations who have been deported by the United States was rejected by the Bahamas on Thursday.

The incoming US administration reportedly proposed the plan to deport immigrants to nations like the Bahamas.

Republican President-elect Trump built his campaign around the promise of carrying out the “largest deportation operation” in US history.

Here is more about the plan:

What is Trump’s plan?

According to a report from NBC News on Thursday, Trump’s team has a list of nations where they can send deported people if their home nations won’t accept them, citing three unnamed sources.

The outlet reported that, in addition to the Bahamas, Trump is considering the neighbouring Turks and Caicos Islands, as well as Panama and Grenada.

Further details, such as whether the immigrants would be allowed to work if they enter such a&nbsp, third country, are not known yet, NBC reported. Additionally, it is unknown what kind of economic or diplomatic pressure Trump will apply to foreign nations in accepting immigrants.

Trump has previously stated that he is willing to use the military to carry out mass deportations and declare a state of emergency.

The Bahamas’ government “reviewed and firmly rejected” the plan, according to Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis in a statement released on Thursday.

According to Arlington Musgrove, the minister of immigration and border services for the island nation’s neighboring the Bahamas, the Turks and Caicos Islands won’t welcome deported immigrants, according to the Miami Herald.

Joe Biden, the Democrat president, had previously implemented a similar immigration measure. According to the Wall Street Journal, he began negotiations with Suriname in 2022 to accept Afghan refugees who had broken the US’s entry requirements. According to the Miami Herald, Suriname recently agreed to accept those refugees.

Is this similar to the UK’s Rwanda plan?

The United Kingdom announced that Rwandans seeking asylum in the UK would receive notification in April 2022 under the Conservative Party government.

In November 2023, the UK Supreme Court declared the plan unlawful, citing safety concerns. However, the UK government signed a new treaty with Rwanda, adding security safeguards. The Safety of Rwanda Act became law in April of this year after the Treaty was ratified.

The Labour Party, however, has since clinched the UK election victory and canceled the Rwandan initiative.

Are there other precedents?

As a result of a partnership with the European Union, Turkey has since 2016 welcomed Syrian refugees as part of its strategy to stop the Middle Eastern nation’s war from famine.

15 EU member states demanded in May this year that the bloc enact a more stringent asylum regime to facilitate the movement of asylum seekers to third countries.

These countries included Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland and Romania.

Italy and Albania signed a five-year agreement in February to transfer asylum seekers from “safe” nations to Albanian detention facilities. After an Italian court rejected the government’s request to detain them in Albania, seven asylum seekers from Bangladesh and Egypt were taken to Italy in November.

Why is Trump’s plan controversial?

Trump’s deportation plan aims to transport people to nations away from their immediate families.

Many foreign governments would need to co-operate with a mass deportation plan.

Additionally, many attorneys and activists contend that it is against international law to turn away asylum seekers who are fleeing violence or persecution.

During Trump’s first term, he carried out a similar measure between 2019 and 2020, placing immigrants on a plane to Guatemala. This move, smaller in scale than Trump’s current plan, &nbsp, was halted during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The US civil rights nonprofit, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and other pro-immigrant rights groups sued Trump over this plan. Federal court is still hearing the case.

In the first Trump administration, an ACLU lawyer, Lee Gelernt, told NBC, “We sued over this type of policy because it was against the law and put asylum seekers in grave danger.”

What is next for the United States&nbsp, as it&nbsp, embarks on a second Trump presidency. &nbsp,