French Farmers Mobilize Against Mercosur Free Trade Agreement | In Brazil Minister of Agriculture and Scholz Push it Forward | Macron Tries to Recruit Milei in a Strange Bedfellows Chapter

Who said international trade was boring? Drama, dénouements inattendus, and farmers in France - both on the Left and the Right - enraged.

Mercosur + EU

“I will say this simply: We cannot ask our farmers in Europe to change their practices, to not use certain products, and to develop quality farming while, at the same time, opening our markets to massive imports,” Macron told reporters on Sunday in Buenos Aires after meeting with Argentinian President Javier Milei”, reports POLITICO Brussels. During Monday’s session of the G20 in Rio Macron was unstoppable.

Meanwhile in France…Arnaud ROUSSEAU, farmer, President of the National Federation of Agricultural Holders' Unions (FNSEA), Vice-President of the French Vegetable Oil and Protein Sector, FOP, and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Avril Gestion, makes the tour of all news programs to explain the demands of French farmers, the funds to support agriculture that were promised but none has seen it.

French winemakers and automakers are likely supporting the trade agreement in particular in light of the looming possible tariffs that will be imposed by the second Trump administration. But French farmers and cattle ranchers are not at all pleased with the text as it is.

Diplomats from Mercosur countries claim that the sanitary and environmental barriers are a form of protectionism. It is the classic he said, they said. That has been going on for decades. Italy and Germany are keen on the accord being inked in early December, as Ursula von der Leyen said a day ago.

Arnaud Rousseau insists that there is time to make other trade unions, elsewhere in Europe, join the protests, and while he tried to assure journalists that the protesters would not block main roads, the latest reports show that that is already happening. Expect delays.

But will French consumers really buy South American produce, chicken, and meat in detriment of local European produce?

Watch the break just before the second session of the G20. Macron and Milei. Biden and Modi. Pairings and smiles, moving policy with a pat in the back. Friends and foes.

Take a look at the G20 session streamed earlier in Brazil, by Reuters. Brazil President slammed again the lack of commitment by world leaders to end poverty and finance the SDGs. “The future will be multipolar.” He repeated the calls made at the UN General Assembly last September, on the need to shake-up the international world order, reform the UN, and the multilateral economic system of the Bretton-Woods institutions.

English simultaneous translation starts at +- 18 minutes.