EU-Mercosur trade deal takes provisional effect
The long-awaited trade deal between South American bloc Mercosur and the European Union took effect on Friday, at least provisionally.
The initiative creates a trans-Atlantic market estimated at $22 trillion with 720 million potential consumers, and some nations expect to boost their exports by more than 10 per cent by 2038, once it is fully implemented.
The trade deal was signed January 17 at a meeting of the South American group. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s move to provisionally enact the deal, effectively sidestepping the EU Parliament, is being challenged by EU lawmakers at the bloc’s judiciary.
The agreement will be halted if the European body rules against it.
“This is good news for EU businesses of all sizes, good news for our consumers and good news for our farmers, who will gain valuable new export opportunities, with full protection for sensitive sectors,” she said Thursday.
Von der Leyen is expected to hold a videoconference on Friday with leaders of Mercosur nations Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay to celebrate the agreement. Earlier this week, Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, one of the key supporters of the agreement, signed a decree validating the deal in his country.
He said it is a response to unilateral tariffs imposed last year by US President Donald Trump and a reaffirmation of multilateralism.
“Nothing better than believing in the exercise of democracy, in multilateralism, and in cordial relations between nations,” Lula said in a ceremony in the capital, Brasilia, to celebrate the milestone after more than 25 years of negotiations.
Last week, Brazil’s vice president and one of the negotiators of the deal, Geraldo Alckmin, said in an interview with The Associated Press and
other news agencies that not striking the deal with the EU would have meant staying behind while competitor nations made other agreements. (AP )
