At the end of July, the fifth round of negotiations between the European Union (EU) and Peru and Colombia was held in Lima. The negotiations, which began life as a regional Association Agreement between the EU and the Community of Andean Nations (CAN), have morphed into what in essence is a free trade agreement, to be agreed bilaterally between the Europeans and Peru and Colombia.

Alejandra Alayza the coordinator of Peruvian civil society movement, the Peruvian Network for Globalisation with Equality (RedGE), and Pedro Francke, an economist at Peru’s Catholic University, have stated in local press reports that they are concerned that the EU plans to go even further than the US in its trade negotiations with Peru, with the likely result that local businesses would suffer the consequences of opening the Peruvian market to EU goods.