Macron defends French farmers during talks with Milei in Buenos Aires

Emmanuel Macron on Sunday defended France's resistance to a much-touted trade deal between the European Union and Mercosur nations in talks with President Javier Milei in Buenos Aires.

France's president visited Milei, an ardent fan of US President-elect Donald Trump, ahead of a G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro set to be dominated by Trump's impending return to power.

Both Macron and Milei will attend the meeting of world leaders.

At their meeting in Buenos Aires the French leader reiterated his country's opposition to a proposed blockbuster trade pact between the European Union and the Mercosur trade, composed of five South American countries, including Brazil and Argentina. 

EU officials are pushing to get the trade deal over the line with or without France by the end of the year.

France is trying to assemble a blocking minority of EU members who fear the deal would flood the European bloc with cheap Brazilian and Argentine beef, among other goods.

En route to his talks with Milei, Macron said he would push "the defence of our agriculture and our farmers."

He added that while he and Milei, a climate sceptic who pulled his country out of UN climate talks in Azerbaijan this week, "don't always think the same thing on many subjects," their talks would help lay the ground for the G20.

Milei's climate snub came a day before he visited Trump this week at his Mar-a-Lago resort, the first foreign leader to visit the Republican.

It sparked fears Milei could pull Argentina out of the landmark 2015 Paris deal on slashing emissions, as Trump did during his first presidential term and could do again after his return to the White House.

Macron's aides said he would attempt to convince the insurgent Milei to back "the international consensus" on global issues, including climate change.

While in Argentina, Macron and his wife visited a church seen as a symbol of resistance during Argentina's 1976-1983 dictatorship. 

At least 22 French citizens, including two nuns, were killed or disappeared during the dictatorship's era of state terrorism. 

The stop was read as a message to Milei and in support of human rights. Argentina's leader has been accused of taking a "denialist" position on the dictatorship era, calling for a "complete memory" of the conflict.

Farmers protest

French farmers launched Monday a new wave of action to protest the adoption of the EU-Mercosur trade pact, which they say would threaten their livelihoods.

Paris is leading resistance against ratification of the trade agreement that would create the world's largest free-trade zone.

Across France, angry French farmers used tractors to block roads and erected wooden crosses, urging Macron and the government to do more.

"Stop the promises, start with actions", read a sign unfurled along a road in the southeastern town of Le Cannet-des-Maures.

"Macron, your agriculture is dying and you are looking elsewhere," read another banner. 

Local farmers also placed a cross next to a mock-up gallows with a message reading "France's agriculture in danger". 

In the eastern city of Lyon, farmers tore off municipals signs and deposited them at the stairs of a museum.

Yohann Barbe, spokesman for the FNSEA, France's top farming union, speaking to broadcaster Europe 1, said that the scale of the protests was going "to be unprecedented."

"Farmers are still just as irritated as ever by a government that is dragging its feet."

– TIMES/AFP