'Precautionism' threatens to create barriers to agricultural trade
Exports of agricultural products from Brazil and other Mercosur countries are at risk of facing more barriers in developed markets, due to the wave of "precautionism" that tends to impose itself on international trade in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
The suspension by the European Union of the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine, at the beginning of the month, sound a warning in some segments of agribusiness. It was seen as an European effort to strengthen its controls even without proof of risks related to a given product.
Pascal Lamy, former director-general of the World Trade Organization, was one of the first to alert last year to what he called a migration from protectionism to precautionism, which will especially affect developing countries. It is no longer just companies that governments will protect with import tariffs against international competition, but also citizens and consumers.
For Pedro de Camargo Neto, one of the main Brazilian specialists in agricultural trade, countries are on the edge because of the health crisis, which increases risks for the sector's exports. In this scenario, he says, "Brazil is weakened, with low credibility and contrary pressures are gaining strength."
"Shipments of Brazilian meats were barred in China under allegation, without scientific evidence, of Covid-19 trait in packaging, even as the World Health Organization does not point out this type of risk," Mr. Camargo Neto says.
Ambassador Pablo Ariel Grinspun, representative in Brussels of Argentina's pro-tempore presidency of Mercosur, sees no relation between the vaccine suspension, which he considers exceptional, and the precautionary principle included in the free trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur.
But the risk of new barriers is clear. "We are predicting that there may be a tightening in Europe of sanitary and regulatory controls on imports from third countries," says Mr. Grinspun. The EU is working, for example, on regulations to protect tropical forests. It wants to encourage the consumption of commodities from supply chains free from deforestation and, thus, combat "imported deforestation." For analysts, this can affect imports of certain meats, soybeans and other products that are considered suspicious.
Professor Maximiliano Mendes-Parra, of the London School of Economics, who conducted an impact study of the EU-Mercosur treaty, noted that the agreement will, in general, benefit Mercosur's exports to the EU, but...
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