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Trade
Berlin, June 6, 2017 (dpa/NAN) Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany plans to visit Latin America by weekend to mobilise allies to head off U.S. President Donald Trump’s stance on climate policy, officials say.
She also wants to stand against Trump’s anti-free trade moves in the run-up to the next G20 meeting scheduled to hold in Hamburg on July 7 and July 8.
Merkel will be travelling to Mexico City on Friday as she gears up for the G20 summit of leaders of the world’s major industrial and emerging economies, which the chancellor is to chair.
Berlin officials believe that the governments in both Argentina and Mexico are closer to Germany than the U.S. on trade and climate following Trump’s “America First” policy.
The policy has called for a more protectionist stance and resulted in Washington ditching the Paris Accord on Climate Change.
As a result, both free trade and climate change are likely to be high on the agenda when the chancellor holds talks with Argentinian President Mauricio Macri and Mexican President Enrique Nieto.
While Trump has vowed to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, which includes the U.S., Canada and Mexico, the EU hopes to sign off on a new trade deal with Latin America by the end of the year.
However, Berlin officials do not see Latin America as a new alternative partner to the U.S. for Germany and the EU, rather as an addition to the current alliance with Washington.
Merkel’s trip to Argentina will represent the first time she has travelled to the nation as chancellor.
It will be her third visit to Mexico. (dpa/NAN)
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Edited by Celine-Damilola Oyewole/Grace Yussuf