With Brazil-US links chill, Hollande pushes jet deal

Mercosur-EU Trade Talks

Another key talking point at the meeting included efforts to relaunch free trade negotiations between the European Union and the Mercosur trade bloc, which is made up of Brazil,Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Venezuela.

The trade groups are getting ready to exchange offers for opening markets in a pact that would encompass 750 million people and $130 billion in annual trade. The Europeans have asked the South American trade bloc to push the date for exchanging offers back to January after setting a deadline for late December, Brazilian and Argentine officials said.

Brazilian negotiators point to France's refusal to reduce subsidies to its farmers as one of the reasons talks on a trade deal collapsed a decade ago.

"We are consolidating our proposal. We hope that the European Union can present its offer as soon as possible, even it is not able to do so this year," Trade Minister Fernando Pimentel told French business representatives in Brasilia.

France is the sixth-largest foreign investor in Brazil with businesses in the oil, auto, electricity and retail sectors.

France's President Francois Hollande reacts next to Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff during a signing ceremony at the Planalto Palace in Brasilia Dec 12, 2013. [Photo/Agencies]