Latinnews Daily - 3 October 2003

US negotiators rejected the proposal put forward by the Brazil-led Mercosul that the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) should be scaled down. Mercosul made the proposal at the preparatory meeting for the FTAA ministerial meeting in December in Miami. The US was careful, however, to ensure that its rejection did not lead to a full-scale row with Brazil. It is mindful that another row, after the failure of the World Trade Organization (WTO) talks in Cancún in mid-September, would be a disaster.