Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen agreed on Tuesday (16) to jointly develop a mechanism to identify difficulties and obstacles between the two sides regarding the trade in steel and animal products. The two leaders spoke on the sidelines of the G7 summit, which is being held this week in France. According to a statement released by Itamaraty, Lula and von der Leyen "discussed topics on the bilateral agenda, in particular the restrictive measures on Brazilian products recently adopted by the European side, and defined a bilateral mechanism between Itamaraty and Commission officials, with a view to identifying difficulties, both in the area of animal products and steel products". Just over a month ago, the European Union updated the list of countries authorized to continue exporting meat to the bloc under its new rules controlling the use of antibiotics in livestock, leaving Brazil out of the list. Earlier this month, an update to the regulations kept Brazil off the list once again. Unless reversed, Brazil will have to halt its protein shipments to the bloc on September 3rd. Without specifying the subject, the Brazilian government's statement says that the mechanism created between the authorities will "seek solutions that address European concerns, whether sanitary, phytosanitary, or related to the protection of its steel industry, as well as Brazil's legitimate export interests, embodied in the Mercosur-European Union agreement."
This text was translated by machine from Brazilian Portuguese.