MENDOZA, Argentina (Reuters) - The members of South America's Mercosur trade bloc called for an end to violence in Venezuela in a joint statement on Friday, while Brazil and Argentina expressed wariness about following the United States in preparing possible economic sanctions.

Mercosur members Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay again called on Venezuela to release political prisoners and offered to facilitate talks between President Nicolas Maduro's socialist government and the opposition in the statement, issued as the nations met in Mendoza, Argentina to discuss trade and regional integration.

Associate Mercosur members Chile, Colombia and Guyana, as well as Mexico, also signed the statement, which called on both the government and the opposition to "not take any initiative that could divide Venezuelan society even more, or aggravate institutional conflicts."

The statement comes days after U.S. officials said they were preparing sanctions against Venezuelan government figures.

Brazilian Foreign Minister Aloysio Nunes and Argentine Foreign Minister Jorge Faurie told reporters Mercosur countries were hesitant to follow suit.

"None of us are willing to apply any sanctions that will affect, above all, the Venezuelan people," Faurie said.

Nunes said any Mercosur decision would be "autonomous" of U.S. action, and said interruptions of food shipments from Brazil to Venezuela could "aggravate the humanitarian crisis even more."

Venezuela was suspended from Mercosur last December amid concerns about human rights. Since then, four months of anti-government unrest has taken around 100 lives. On Friday, millions joined a 24-hour shutdown as part of a civil disobedience campaign against Maduro.

In April, Argentine President Mauricio Macri warned that Venezuela could be expelled from Mercosur if it did not change its behaviour.

The joint statement did not refer to Maduro's plan to hold a July 30 vote to elect a constituent assembly with powers to rewrite the OPEC nation's constitution. Mexico on Thursday had called on Maduro to shelve the vote.

Bolivia, whose President Evo Morales is one of Maduro's few remaining allies in the region, is in the process of becoming a Mercosur member.

At the meeting, Mercosur members agreed to establish common legal conditions within the bloc to encourage investment and took steps to boost trade ties with the Pacific Alliance countries of Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru.

Mercosur is also eyeing a trade deal with the European Union, which Faurie said could be reached in December. </s> Here is all you need to know about the blockbuster EU-Mercosur trade deal

In this July 14, 2017 file photo, Argentina's Foreign Minister Jorge Faurie attends a meeting at the Itamaraty Palace, in Brasilia, Brazil. The Argentine Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday, June 28, 2019, that South America’s Mercosur trade bloc has struck a “strategic association” trade deal with the European Union, clinched in the Belgian capital of Brussels following two decades of negotiations. The Mercosur bloc includes Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. Image Credit: AP

Also in this package Canada takes a first step toward ratifying trade deal with US, Mexico

Europe and South America's leading customs union struck a free-trade deal after 20 years of talks, notching up a major win in a global market-opening drive that counters the protectionism of US President Donald Trump.

Top European Union officials reached a breakthrough in free-trade negotiations with counterparts from the Mercosur group of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, paving the way for an agreement to expand goods shipments worth almost 90 billion euros ($102 billion) a year. The pact is slated to be among the EU's biggest.

Both sides settled longstanding differences over Mercosur demands for greater access to the EU agricultural market, including for beef and sugar, and European calls for South America to lower automotive-import barriers.

Bringing to an end two decades of talks, the deal struck on Friday in Brussels follows groundbreaking European free-trade accords with Canada and Japan and adds political momentum to EU negotiations with Australia and New Zealand. It comes as government heads from the Group of 20 leading economies meet in Japan with the focus on Trump's trade war with China and planned meeting on Saturday with his Chinese counterpart.

Europe is fighting to uphold a 70-year-old global commercial order threatened by Trump's "America First" agenda, which has sparked US tariff battles against strategic allies and rivals alike, rattled the foundations of the World Trade Organization and darkened the economic outlook.

The EU, the world's largest trading bloc with more than 500 million consumers, is also seeking to underscore its commercial clout as the UK prepares to leave by October 31. While Brexit will force Britain to take charge of its own trade policy for the first time in almost 50 years, the country hopes to piggyback on the market-opening pacts already struck by the EU.

Latin Celebrations

The deal is the largest and most complex ever struck by Mercosur and South American governments were quick to celebrate its signing.

"Together, Mercosur and the EU represent a quarter of the global economy and now Brazilian producers will have access to this enormous market," Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro wrote on Twitter. "Great day!"

A press statement released by the Brazilian economy ministry said that the deal would result in an increase in GDP of $87.5 billion over the next 15 years, a number that could rise to $125 billion.

'The Mercosur-EU deal is much more than a trade agreement,' said Argentine Foreign Affairs Minister Jorge Faurie. 'It's a strategic advance in Argentina's position on the global stage that strengthens the commercial agenda of both our country and our bloc.'

Key facts about the blockbuster EU-Mercosur trade deal

Taking into account the GDP of all the countries concerned, the agreement concluded by the EU in 2018 with Japan is slightly larger (19.5 trillion euros) than that with Mercosur (18 trillion euros).

But in terms of population, the EU-Mercosur agreement is bigger, involving 770 million people, ahead of the EU-Japan's deal covering 630 million.

The EU and Mercosur exchange 88 billion euros in goods annually, with a balance very slightly in favour of the Europeans (+2.5 billion euros).

These exchanges place Mercosur between India and Canada, in 10th place among the EU's main trading partners.

But the trade remains modest compared with the 675 billion euros exchanged each year by Europeans with the United States, their main partner.

The EU is Mercosur's largest trading partner after China.

Advantages

The agreement is set to eliminate South American tariffs against the EU that are still very high in some key industrial sectors: 35 percent in the clothing and automotive sector - which are at the heart of the agreement - or 14 percent in the pharmaceutical industry.

In agriculture, these customs duties are now high for spirits (35 percent), dairy products (28 percent), chocolate (20 percent) or wine (20 percent).

The agreement also aims to protect European geographical indications on products such as Cognac or Manchego cheese. These goods often exist in the Americas because of historical links between the two regions.

The EU is also counting on the agreement to improve access to the South American market for services (telecommunications, transport or financial services).

EU concessions

The EU will have to open its market to beef, ethanol, sugar and poultry exports from the Mercosur nations - these are all crucial sectors for the South Americans, but also very sensitive for European producers who have strongly opposed the trade deal.

To protect its market, the EU is setting up quotas: politically sensitive imports will not be taxed when they arrive in Europe up to a certain threshold, above which customs duties will again be applied.

These quota thresholds were also imposed on Canada and Japan.

Environment

Like all the agreements recently signed by the EU, this one includes a chapter on sustainable development.

According to the commission, this chapter will cover areas such as "forest conservation, wildlife trade and respect for workers' rights".

Despite these non-binding commitments, several NGOs have expressed concern, particularly because of the "ecological situation in Brazil" since the inauguration in January of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro.

Bolsonaro is pursuing a policy that favours agribusiness, a major business in his country's economy, but which, according to activists is destroying the Amazonian forest.

Unknowns

The agreement negotiated by the commission with Mercosur must now be approved by all 28 member states, which is not an easy task in Europe, where public opinion increasingly questions the benefits of free trade and its impact on the climate, even in traditionally trade-friendly countries.

In 2016, Belgium alone almost ruined the signing of the highly controversial CETA trade agreement with Canada. But the desire to make the EU a champion of free trade against US President Donald Trump-led protectionism could work in favour of the deal. </s> FILE – In this July 14, 2017 file photo, Argentina’s Foreign Minister Jorge Faurie attends a meeting at the Itamaraty Palace, in Brasilia, Brazil. The Argentine Foreign Ministry said in a statement Friday, June 28, 2019, that South America’s Mercosur trade bloc has struck a “strategic association” trade deal with the European Union, clinched in the Belgian capital of Brussels following two decades of negotiations. The Mercosur bloc includes Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres, File)

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — South America’s Mercosur bloc and the European Union struck a free-trade deal Friday after two decades of negotiations that concluded amid global trade tensions and rising protectionism.

The agreement announced by both sides came as trade talks between the EU and the United States have stalled with the Trump administration threatening to impose tariffs on all autos, a major European export to the U.S.

“In the midst of international trade tensions, we are sending today a strong signal with our Mercosur partners that we stand for rules-based trade,” European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said following the clinching of the deal in the Belgian capital of Brussels.

Juncker described the pact with the bloc made up of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay as “an historic moment” that came 20 years after talks were launched. It shows the European bloc is determined to remain a flag-bearer of the global trade system at a time when it is being challenged by a Trump administration skeptical of free trade.

Argentina’s Foreign Ministry said the agreement “will mean the integration of a market of some 800 million people, nearly a fourth of the world’s gross domestic product and more than $100 billion in bilateral trade of goods and services.”

The ministry said the deal also is aimed at strengthening political and cultural ties with the EU, improving access to goods, services and investments by reducing restrictions and easing access to technology and raw materials.

Juncker said the deal would remove most tariffs on EU exports to Mercosur, saving more than 4 billion euros ($4.5 billion) worth of duties each year, four times as much as Europe’s pact with Japan.

The commission, which negotiates trade deals on behalf of the 28-nation EU, said the agreement is particularly important for industrial sectors like cars and car parts, machinery, chemicals, pharmaceuticals as well as clothing and footwear. Mercosur hopes to benefit with more exports of agricultural products including beef, poultry and sugar.

The EU’s farm and food sector also stands to gain, particularly products like chocolates, wine and spirits.

“The basics of this deal have been quite clear for some time. It’s cars and machinery and agriculture. But in the past, politics have stood in the way. Particularly in Brazil, which has had a very protectionist policy focusing on domestic production,” said Jacob Funk Kirkegaard, senior fellow, at the Peterson Institute for international economics.”And at the same time, the Europeans have been very protective of their agricultural sector.”

The commission said the deal, which still must be ratified by the legislatures of all the countries involved, will also ease border checks and cut red tape.

The agreement brings to 15 the number of pacts the EU has concluded since 2014, most recently with Canada and Japan, and comes as the bloc pushes ahead with international trade deals.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro called it one “of the most important trade agreements of all times.”

The Brazilian government said the deal would boost Latin America’s largest economy by slashing tariffs for some agricultural products like orange juice, fruit and instant coffee, and expanding access via quotas for beef, ethanol and sugar.

“Brazilian companies will benefit from the elimination of tariffs on exports of 100 percent of industrial products. That will equalize the conditions of competition with other partners that already have free trade agreements with the EU,” it said.

The deal is “a game changer in Latin America as a whole, which historically has been very protectionist,” Kirkegaard said. “This could herald in a new era for Mercosur.”

Negotiations began on June 28, 1999, but have taken a long, torturous path marked by breaks and frustrations, as the countries’ different sensitivities and priorities were taken into account.

But EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said the talks gathered momentum early this year, aided in part by a new Brazilian government that made the deal one of its priorities, and were pushed over the line by intensive negotiations over the last three days in Brussels.

“This is a landmark agreement,” Malmstrom told reporters in Brussels, flanked by negotiators and senior officials.

“With this deal we are showing that we believe that trade is a good thing. It brings people and companies together, and we send a loud and clear message in support of open, sustainable, mutually beneficial, rule-based trade.”

Cook reported from Brussels. Associated Press writers Almudena Calatrava in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Carson Gardiner and Yesica Fisch in Rio de Janeiro and Chris Rugaber in Washington contributed to this report. </s> BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentina said on Friday that the Mercosur trade bloc clinched a “strategic association” trade deal with the European Union.

The deal was agreed in Brussels after more than 20 years of negotiations, the Argentine government said in a statement. The Mercosur trade bloc consists of Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay. </s> BRASILIA (Reuters) - South American trade bloc Mercosur will trigger its democratic clause this weekend to suspend Venezuela indefinitely and not allow it back until democracy is restored, a Brazilian government source said on Thursday.

The decision will be taken at a meeting of the foreign ministers of Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Brazil in Sao Paulo on Saturday, said the official with knowledge of the negotiations.

Mercosur suspended Venezuela temporarily from the bloc in December for not complying with the bloc’s regulations, but the deterioration of the political and human rights situation has led it to take a more definitive stance.

The bloc had planned to decide on applying the democratic clause at year-end, but brought the decision forward following Venezuela’s controversial election of a constituent assembly on Sunday followed by the arrest of several opposition leaders by President Nicolas Maduro’s government.

“The Venezuelan situation has become intolerable,” Argentine Foreign Minister Jorge Faurie told reporters in Montevideo. “For Argentina, it is clear that we have reached a breaking point.”

Argentina warned in July that Mercosur would permanently expel Venezuela if Maduro went ahead with the creation of a national assembly. Countries around the world have condemned the vote, calling it a bid to indefinitely extend Maduro’s rule. His government has been accused of inflating turnout numbers.

Millions in Venezuela are suffering food shortages, soaring inflation and months of anti-government unrest, making it more unlikely that such a high turnout was obtained by the government.

More than 120 people have been killed in the protests, drawing international condemnation of the security forces’ heavy-handed tactics.

Mercosur has no provision for expulsion, but activating the democratic clause adds to the international isolation of the Maduro government because Venezuela can only be readmitted after holding elections that the bloc members view to be democratic. </s> The divisions among the world's leading economies were evident from the moment the Argentine president opened the summit Friday with a call for international cooperation to solve the planet's problems.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — The U.S. has been blocking progress at the Group of 20 summit on fixing world trade rules, fighting climate change and tackling migration, according to European officials involved in the discussions.

The divisions among the world's leading economies were evident from the moment the Argentine president opened the summit Friday with a call for international cooperation to solve the planet's problems.

President Donald Trump sought to use the summit to make his own trade deals. Meanwhile, two men under heavy criticism from the West lately — Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — appeared to seek refuge in each other, bonding with a tough-guy hand grab as the leaders sat down around a huge round table for talks.

Security concerns also weighed on the two-day talks in Buenos Aires. Argentina's security minister said eight gasoline bombs were discovered in an area of the capital where a protest against the G-20 summit began in the afternoon.

Diplomats from the Group of 20 countries were haggling hard over a final summit statement, with deep divisions over what language to use on the Paris climate accord and the World Trade Organization.

Two European officials involved in the discussions said the U.S. was stymieing progress on both.

So an unorthodox solution emerged: Because of resistance from the Trump administration, an official in the French president's office said the statement may have language that sets the U.S. apart. For example, a draft says 19 of the participants agree on the importance of upholding the Paris climate accord, but the U.S. doesn't.

The officials said the U.S. was also blocking any mention of migration in the final statement.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly about the closed-door discussions.

Argentine President Mauricio Macri kicked off the summit by acknowledging divisions within the G-20 while urging world leaders to have a "sense of urgency" and take actions "based on shared interests."

The summit is meant to focus on issues such as labor, infrastructure, development, financial stability, climate sustainability and international commerce.

But as the gathering got underway, those themes seemed like afterthoughts, overshadowed by contentious matters from the U.S.-China trade dispute to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

European Council President Donald Tusk urged G-20 leaders to discuss "trade wars, the tragic situation in Syria and Yemen, and Russian aggression in Ukraine." He said the European Union is expected to extend sanctions on Moscow over its "totally unacceptable" seizure of Ukrainian ships and their crews near the Crimean Peninsula.

"Europe is united in its support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity," Tusk said, calling the standoff "a cause of great concern."

Russia and Ukraine have traded blame over the weekend ship incident — which Trump cited in canceling a much-awaited meeting with Putin at the G-20. Russia's foreign minister regretted the move, but said "love can't be forced."

Also looming large amid dozens of bilateral meetings in Buenos Aires: the gruesome slaying of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Saudi Arabia's Istanbul consulate and how the Saudi crown prince, who is alleged to have ordered the killing, is received by world leaders.

As soon as he arrived, the crown prince was confronted by French President Emmanuel Macron, who pressed him on the Khashoggi investigation and the Saudi-backed war in Yemen.

Bin Salman told Macron not to worry, but Macron countered, "I am worried."

Saudi Arabia has denied that bin Salman played a role, but some leaders may be cool toward him to avoid seeming to legitimize a man who U.S. intelligence agencies concluded ordered the killing. Trump's administration has made clear it does not want to torpedo the longstanding U.S. relationship with Riyadh, however.

It is the prince's first significant appearance overseas since the killing. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has been sharply critical of Saudi Arabia over the incident, is also in attendance.

Leaders of the United States, Canada and Mexico, meanwhile, met in the morning to sign a trade deal replacing the North American Free Trade Agreement that was struck following months of tough negotiations that analysts say left a bitter taste among the partners.

Trump called the pact a "model agreement that changes the trade landscape forever."

It must still be ratified by lawmakers in all three countries, and passage in the U.S. could face a tough road in the House of Representatives after Democrats won a majority in November midterm elections.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, whose six-year term ends Saturday, said the deal modernizes the trade framework, highlights a need for economic integration in North America and protects labor rights and the environment.

Trade agreements should "move along with the economy," Pena Nieto said.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called on Trump to remove tariffs on steel and aluminum, saying they remain a major economic obstacle.

While Trump canceled his meeting with Putin, the U.S. president was still scheduled to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping, but analysts were not optimistic about prospects for a major breakthrough on the two countries' trade disputes a month before U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods are set to ramp up.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel was supposed to get in to Buenos Aires early Friday, but her arrival was delayed when her plane suffered a technical problem.

British Prime Minister Theresa May's attendance at the summit marked the first time a U.K. prime minister has visited Argentina's capital. The only other prime minister to visit the country was Tony Blair, who went to Puerto Iguazu in 2001. The two countries have long been at odds over the South Atlantic islands known as the Falklands in Britain and the Malvinas in Argentina.

Argentine Foreign Minister Jorge Faurie said the recent establishment of more flights to the disputed islands was a positive development.

Regarding May's visit, he said: "Dialogue must be maintained."

"We are not withdrawing our historic claim," he added. "The focus of this opportunity is in the reestablishment of trust." </s> Image copyright Reuters Image caption President Maduro, seen here on his TV programme, welcomed delegates more than 100 countries while his region's trading bloc threatened to suspend Venezuela

The South American trading bloc Mercosur has threatened to suspend Venezuela if it does not comply with a series of trade and human rights rules.

Paraguay's foreign minister said demands included protecting human rights and enacting a law guaranteeing free movement of Mercosur citizens.

The group set a deadline of 1 December.

The four original Mercosur members - Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay - blocked Venezuela from assuming the rotating presidency in June.

Venezuela's Foreign Minister, Delcy Rodriguez, tweeted that the country rejected the announcement and that the other countries were trying to destroy Mercosur.

She said the bloc was supposed to make decisions by consensus.

Meanwhile Venezuela is hosting more than 100 nations at a meeting of "non-aligned" countries - those who did not back either the US or the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

President Nicolas Maduro said on his TV programme on Tuesday that the start of the summit would "stay in the annals of Venezuelan diplomacy for centuries to come".

Venezuela will take on the rotating presidency of the Non-Aligned Movement, which has been held by Iran since 2012. </s> ASUNCION, Paraguay (AP) — The four original nations of South America's Mercosur trading bloc announced Tuesday that they are giving Venezuela until Dec. 1 to comply with its commitments when it joined in 2012 that it would comply with all the group's requirements.

Brazil's foreign minister tweeted that Venezuela would be suspended from the group if it failed to meet the deadline.

The ultimatum was contained in a statement from Mercosur founders Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay that was released by the Foreign Ministry of Paraguay, where the group has its headquarters.

The statement gave no details about the requirements that Venezuela had not met.

But Paraguayan Foreign Minister Eladio Loizaga recently said that among the things Venezuela needed to do was protect human rights and enact a law guaranteeing free movement of citizens of the member nations. He also said Venezuela was not allowing opposition groups to protest freely.

On Twitter, Brazilian Foreign Minister Jose Serra said the group would suspend Venezuela as a member if the group's demand is not met. He also said that the four countries agreed that Venezuela would not take over the bloc's rotating presidency as scheduled and instead Mercosur will be presided over by a commission of one member each from the four founding states.

Mercosur took in Venezuela as a member in an effort to link the region's most powerful agricultural and energy markets. </s> "We're going to work on a free trade agreement with Brazil," Trump told reporters at the White House, without giving details.

Trump raised the possibility of a trade deal as U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross visited Sao Paulo to address business leaders ahead of a Wednesday meeting with Bolsonaro in Brasilia.

The United States and Brazil, which exchanged more than $100 billion in goods and services last year, have drawn closer since Bolsonaro took office in January following the far-right former army captain's insurgent election campaign modeled after Trump's. He has tapped his son Eduardo Bolsonaro as ambassador in Washington.

"Brazil is a big trading partner. They charge us a lot of tariffs, but other than that we love the relationship," Trump told reporters, citing what he called his great relationship with Brazil and praising Bolsonaro.

Marcos Troyjo, Brazil's deputy economy minister for foreign trade, told Reuters his country has "ambitious" goals to facilitate trade and boost investment between the two countries, especially in infrastructure.

But Troyjo said any talks on tariffs would have to include Brazil's partners in the South American customs union Mercosur, which includes neighbors Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.

The powerhouse farm sectors in Brazil and the United States have occasionally found themselves at odds, including a dispute over cotton subsidies resolved at the World Trade Organization in 2014.

The United States threatened steel and aluminum tariffs on Brazil and a number of other countries last year as part of Trump's "America First" agenda, before granting a permanent exemption to Brazil.

Ross is the first U.S. commerce secretary to visit Brazil since 2011. On Wednesday, he will meet with Bolsonaro and hold talks with Brazil's economy and infrastructure ministers, Paulo Guedes and Tarcisio Freitas.
Argentine Foreign Minister Jorge Faurie announces that the European Union and Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay achieved a breakthrough in free-trade talks after 20 years.