Canada, Mercosur Eyeing Possible Trade Negotiations Launch Next Month

Canada and the South American trading bloc Mercosur are reportedly expected to announce the formal launch of trade talks next month, during a meeting on 9 March between Canadian trade minister François-Philippe Champagne and his Mercosur counterparts in Asunción, Paraguay. “The stars are sort of aligning right now. Whether it’s auto parts, chemicals, lumber, seafood, this is actually a very attractive market,” Champagne spokesperson Joseph Pickerill told Reuters late last week. The Mercosur talks “make a lot of sense and right now we have got countries very, very eager to work with us,” Pickerill added. Mercosur, which includes Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay as full members, is the world’s fourth-largest trading bloc, and the second largest in the Americas after the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Canadian government statistics indicate that the group accounts for a combined GDP of US$2.4 trillion and a population of 260 million people. Canada already has significant trade with the group’s individual members, with the sum total running up to about US$8.1 billion in goods in 2016, according to government statistics. Bilateral investment flows are even higher, with outbound investment from Canada to the group hitting US$11.7 billion in 2016, while Mercosur’s investment into...