By Promit Mukherjee
OTTAWA (Reuters) -Canada’s International Trade Minister said on Thursday that there was an appetite from both sides to advance conversations on a trade deal with South American bloc Mercosur, as Canada seeks trade pacts globally in push to diversify from the U.S.
Prime Minister Mark Carney and his team have been locked in talks with U.S. President Donald Trump to hash out a trade deal by August 1, which could help reduce tariffs on Canada.
But his government is also preparing to rely less on a relationship that generated bilateral trade of over C$1 trillion ($727.33 billion) last year and focusing on diversifying trade by signing free trade pacts globally.
“I had conversations with the foreign minister of Brazil, and there is appetite to carry conversations around Mercosur,” , Minister Maninder Sidhu said in an interview with Reuters.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had said in April that he was interested in advancing talks for a trade deal between South America’s Mercosur bloc and Canada.
Mercosur – which includes Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay – has had negotiation rounds for a trade deal with Canada in the past.
Canada is also keen to continue talks with China to address trade challenges and sees a thawing of relations between India and Canada as an important step to support trade, the Minister said.
Canada has 15 free-trade deals covering 51 countries, giving it access to 1.5 billion consumers and Sidhu said that Canada will be pursuing more such deals in the coming months without giving a specific target.
(Reporting by Promit Mukherjee; Editing by Caroline Stauffer and Rod Nickel)