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TRADE unions have welcomed the collapse of a deal they say could have wiped out Britain's beef industry.
The EU had been in talks with Mercosur, the South American common market, as part of a “mega-trade deal” that was expected to have been agreed by Christmas.
However the talks collapsed and general union GMB urged the government to reconsider its “slavish adherence to outdated free trade policies that are only of benefit to multinational corporations.”
GMB said the secretive deal could have destroyed the British and Irish beef industry.
The union’s international officer Bert Schouwenburg claimed the only beneficiaries of the deal would have been the “illegitimate authoritarian governments of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay.”
Mr Schouwenburg said it was a scandal that the EU publicly condemns Venezuela while cosying up to Brazilian President Michel Temer who is currently embroiled in multiple corruption scandals.
GMB said it would continue to challenge detrimental free trade agreements.
“They are bad for our members, their jobs and their livelihoods and for the country as a whole,” Mr Schouwenburg added.