The search for a free trade agreement with China and the request to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership, formalized on the eve of the meeting, renew Uruguay’s intention to make MERCOSUR’s rules more flexible.

It has aroused suspicion and criticism from its partners in Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay, which issued a joint communiqué reserving retaliatory measures for Uruguay’s “escape” to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement involving 11 nations globally.

President Luis Lacalle Pou anticipated an “entertaining” summit due to this disagreement, and he stressed in recent statements that his Government’s position within MERCOSUR has been “frontal” with respect to its right to open up to the world.

The truth is that halfway through his term, Lacalle Pou obtained a feasibility agreement from Beijing for a possible free trade agreement, which currently awaits the Asian patience.

During this period, steps with Türkiye were also taken, with whom a memorandum of understanding was signed in May.

When the MERCOSUR summit was been prepared in Montevideo, Foreign Minister Francisco Bustillo submitted the application in Wellington, New Zealand, on December 1st. to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Amid this disagreement, Lacalle Pou will hand over the pro tempore presidency of MERCOSUR to his Argentinian counterpart Alberto Fernández, on Tuesday.

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