Buenos Aires (AFP) – President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday defended France’s resistance to a much-touted trade deal between the European Union and South American countries in talks with his Argentine counterpart Javier Milei in Buenos Aires. Macron visited the Argentine president, an ardent fan of US President-elect Donald Trump, ahead of a G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro set to be dominated by Trump’s impending return to power. Both Macron and Milei will attend the meeting of world leaders.
At their meeting in Buenos Aires, the French leader reiterated his country’s opposition to a proposed blockbuster trade pact among the European Union and four South American countries, including Brazil and Argentina. EU officials are pushing to get the trade deal over the line with or without France by the end of the year. France is trying to assemble a blocking minority of EU members who fear the deal would flood the European bloc with cheap Brazilian and Argentine beef, among other goods.
En route to his talks with Milei, Macron said he would push “the defense of our agriculture and our farmers.” He added that while he and Milei, a climate skeptic who pulled his country out of UN climate talks in Azerbaijan this week, “don’t always think the same thing on many subjects,” their talks would help lay the ground for the G20.
Milei’s climate snub came a day before he visited Trump this week at his Mar-a-Lago resort, the first foreign leader to visit the Republican. It sparked fears Milei could pull Argentina out of the landmark 2015 Paris deal on slashing emissions, as Trump did during his first presidential term and could do again after his return to the White House. Macron’s aides said he would attempt to convince the insurgent Milei to back “the international consensus” on global issues, including climate change.
While in Argentina, Macron visited a church seen as a symbol of resistance during Argentina’s 1976-1983 dictatorship. At least 22 French citizens, including two nuns, were killed or disappeared during the dictatorship’s so-called Dirty War against suspected left-wing opponents.
© 2024 AFP
