Officials from the South American customs bloc Mercosur held negotiating meetings last week with South Korea and the European Union, respectively, as the coalition looks to cement trade ties with new partners. While talks with the EU have been ongoing for almost 20 years, formal negotiations with South Korea were launched in May. Both talks happened at the same time as Argentina’s hosting of a G20 trade ministers’ meeting, which focused on fostering dialogue on WTO reform and the current trading climate, as well agri-food value chains and the trade-related changes wrought by technological and industrial change. (For more on the G20 meetings, see related story, this edition) EU, Mercosur weigh options for commercially sensitive products After a busy summer of negotiations, the EU and Mercosur headed into the last quarter of the year with a set of outstanding issues to resolve, many of which have been key sticking points in the talks for several years. (See Bridges Weekly, 26 July 2018 ) On 14 September, following the latest round of talks in Montevideo, Uruguayan Foreign Minister Rodolfo Nin Novoa suggested that talks between the two parties remain complex. However, Argentine Production Minister Dante Sica met the same day with...