Brazil’s Senate on Wednesday ratified an agreement between the Mercosur bloc and the European Union that creates one of the largest free trade areas in the world.
The agreement involves the four founding members of the South American trade bloc and has already been ratified by Argentina and Uruguay. Paraguay’s parliament still needs to approve it.
The European Commission announced last week that it would provisionally implement the mammoth deal, pending the EU’s top court’s ruling on its legality.
The move angered France, which led opposition to the deal and tried unsuccessfully to block it over concerns about its farmers, who fear being hurt by cheaper products from Brazil and its neighbors.
The agreement was signed in January after 25 years of complicated negotiations.
It received a new boost amid the widespread use of tariffs and trade threats by US President Donald Trump’s administration, which sent countries scrambling to seek new partnerships.
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Together, the EU and Mercosur represent 30 percent of global GDP and more than 700 million consumers.
The agreement eliminates tariffs on more than 90 percent of bilateral trade.
The agreement will favor European exports of cars, wine and cheese, while facilitating the entry into Europe of South American beef, poultry, sugar, rice, honey and soybeans.
Brazil – the world’s largest producer of coffee, meat and soybeans, among other food products – was one of the strongest supporters of the agreement.
“The world today is more fragmented, more skeptical and more protectionist. This makes the agreement with our European partners even more relevant and more necessary,” said Senator Tereza Cristina during the debate in the Brazilian legislature.
On the European side, Spain and Germany are in favor of the pact, which will benefit exports of machinery and spirits to the Mercosur bloc.
But some European farmers reacted angrily, taking tractors to cities such as Paris, Brussels and Warsaw to protest the feared influx of cheaper produce produced with lower standards and banned pesticides.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
