 In the midst of protests from the civilian population and after US refusal to end or reduce his protectionism on agricultural markets, and opposition from the four Mercosur countries (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay) and Venezuela, which maintained that the U.S.-led proposal would damage their nations' economies, the Summit talks failed to reach an agreement on a regional trade deal.Talks continued beyond the scheduled end of the meeting as supporters of the U.S.-led proposal sought to set another date to continue negotiations.Twenty-nine of the nations at the meeting agreed to resume talks over the Free Trade Area of the Americas in 2006; the five dissenters instead proposed to wait for the results of the next World Trade Organization meeting in Hong Kong.