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2014
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Mr Aboulafia told the
Times
, “You’re talking about a military
service that doesn’t need a heavyweight front-line fighter and
has suffered a budget squeeze.”
›
Boeing was not the only dejected aspirant to the lucrative
Brazilian fighter-jet contract and probable follow-up orders
that will greatly increase its value. Seeking to take advantage
of the chill in US-Brazil relations, no less a figure than President
François Hollande of France had travelled to Brasilia to talk up
the Rafale fighter, built by Dassault Aviation, in a one-on-one
meeting with his opposite number Ms Rousseff. The earnest
but vain effort came at a time when developed nations are
slashing military budgets.
As a consolation prize of sorts, a consortium led by the
French company Thales already had in hand a $600 million
contract from Brazil to build and launch, in 2016, a satellite to
help protect the South American country’s communications.
France is the sixth-largest foreign investor in Brazil, with
businesses in the oil, auto, electricity and retail sectors.
Another key item discussed at the 12 December meeting
of presidents was the possible re-launch of free trade
negotiations between the European Union and the Mercosur
trade bloc, which is made up of Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay,
Paraguay and Venezuela.
The two sides were preparing to examine each other’s plans
for open markets and a pact to facilitate $130 billion in annual
trade, with prospective benefits to some 750 million people.
Of related interest . . .
›
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA),
which took effect 20 years ago, enabled Mexico to take
advantage of the accord with the US and Canada in a few
areas. The automotive and electronics sectors have grown,
and the arrival of foreign banks widened access to credit.
More foreign automakers have set up plants in Mexico, which
now produces about 3 million vehicles per year. Mexico
has increased auto-sector jobs by around 50 per cent since
1994.
But the treaty has not delivered on its promises to close
Mexico’s wage gap with the US, boost job growth, and relieve
poverty. Although its middle class is larger today, competition
from Asia and Central America has kept wages down, and
Mexico is the only major Latin American country where
poverty has grown in recent years.
According to the Economic Commission for Latin America,
poverty fell from 48.4 per cent in 1990 to 27.9 per cent in
2013 for all of Latin America. In Mexico, where it stood at 52.4
per cent in 1994, the poverty rate dropped to as low as 42.7
per cent in 2006; but by 2012, it had risen again to 51.3 per
cent.
The three-way NAFTA trade has vastly increased, to about
3.5 times the 1994 levels. But US trade with China and other
Asian nations has grown even faster over the pact’s first two
decades.
