CARS GR Staff continues to participate in the Foreign Affairs' periodic update on the status of negotiations between Canada and MERCUSOR countries (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay). Round 7 of the negotiations took place in Ottawa, during the period 29 July to 2 August 2019. Because of the relatively short time period between Rounds 6 and 7, there was not much progress made at this time. The MERCUSOR countries completed their FTA with the EU and are anticipating more progress in the coming months. Their optimistic view is that this FTA could be completed by the early part of 2020. They would like to have Canada onboard with this agreement as soon as possible. The Canadian side does not share the optimistic completion date of this FTA, it appears more realistic to expect this agreement to be signed by the mid to later 2020. The upcoming Canadian elections are causing some timing delays, thus the next round of discussions, originally scheduled for mid-September, will not take place now until mid to end November 2019.