South American giant the first stop on week-long trade junket
Prime Minister Stephen Harper and a cadre of senior cabinet ministers arrived in Brazil Monday to kick-off high-level trade talks with the emerging South American giant. The visit is the first in a week-long Latin American swing for Harper and it comes as economic turmoil in the United States and Europe continues to swirl. Securing a bilateral trade agreement with Brazil may be difficult. Trade relations between the two countries have been strained at times and Brazil needs the support of trade partners Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay to sign-off on any free trade pact. Brazil, the world’s seventh largest economy, is already Canada’s tenth largest trading partner. Harper, along with cabinet ministers John Baird, Rona Ambrose, Diane Ablonczy and Ed Fast, will touch down in Columbia, Costa Rica and Honduras later in the week.