Uruguay pre-presidential candidate criticizes Mercosur

Uruguayan billionaire Juan Sartori, a pre candidate for the October presidential elections, strongly criticized the Mercosur trading bloc.

“Mercosur is a beautiful idea, but it doesn't work,” said Sartori, as quoted by Brazilian newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo.

The active members of Mercosur are Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.

Sartori is one of the pre candidates of the conservative Partido Nacional, which will announce its candidate on June 30.

General elections will be hold on October 27.

Recent polls indicate that Sartori is gaining ground and he has become a threat to the party's leading pre candidate Luis Alberto Lacalle Pou.

Married to the daughter of a Russian tycoon, the 38-year old Sartori has admitted that he is an admirer of US President Donald Trump and Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro.

Sartori criticized recent trade actions by Argentina and he believes that Uruguay would be better served by signing bilateral trade deals with a large number of nations.

"A few weeks ago, Argentina imposed tariff barriers and harmed many Uruguayan industries. That's not the spirit of the pack. They keep us hostage, unable to sign agreements with other countries. I want to make it more flexible - and Bolsonaro has already said that he is going the same way," Sartori said. "I like the example of Switzerland, which has more than 120 bilateral trade agreements with other countries. This would be ideal because many agreements are good for Uruguay, but not for the major regional players. As a small country we have to have flexibility.”