RIO DE JANEIRO, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's Foreign Minister Aloysio Nunes said Friday that he does not expect a coming trade agreement between the South American trade bloc Mercosur and the European Union (EU) to be an ambitious one.
Member countries of the Southern Common Market (Mercosur), including Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, have been negotiating a trade deal with the EU for 18 years, with yet another new round of talks scheduled for the second week of July.
"We will resume technical negotiations on July 8, hoping that we can close a deal that is not too ambitious, but instead similar to the ones the European Union reached with Canada, Japan and Mexico," he said.
The EU-Mercosur agreement was sent back to the drawing board after the United States announced new protectionist measures.
Nunes highlighted the complexity of reaching a deal between two economic blocs, since all members of each bloc must agree on everything. While Mercosur is a small bloc, whose members are already "in synch," the EU gathers 28 countries.
Mercosur is also conducting trade negotiations with South Korea and is expected to begin talks with Singapore soon.
