The President of the Republic, Luis Lacalle Pou, confirmed this Wednesday that he will advance in his attempt for Uruguay to enter the Transpacific Partnership (TPP), a free trade agreement (TCC) in which countries such as Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, among others.
This has caused the annoyance of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, Member States of MERCOSUR, who announced that they do not rule out taking forceful measures “to defend their legal and commercial interests.”
“We are going to do it, we feel we have every right to do it. Just as we understand, although we do not share, the claim of the three countries, we have been very frontal in heads-up, in the Mercosur meetings and we have one next week, which is going to be entertaining and we are going to talk about these issues. ”, indicated President Luis Lacalle Pou.
The right-wing president understands that Uruguay is “assisted by international law”, because these types of decisions “are not made by consensus, for example, the first reduction in tariffs agreed between Argentina and Brazil.”
And he added: “Uruguay participates in a reduction in tariffs, in addition to a very good agreement that was made to benefit the products and services of the free zone.”
MERCOSUR warning
In a note published on the morning of November 30, the governments of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay expressed their discontent with Uruguay’s attempt to advance alone in joining the TPP.
The National Coordinators of the three nations announced that they will reserve the right “to adopt any measures they deem necessary to defend their interests in the legal and commercial fields.”
