{"id":685246,"date":"2026-01-09T20:44:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T20:44:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/685246\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T20:44:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T20:44:19","slug":"eu-mercosur-trade-deal-garners-greenlight-by-eu-member-council","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/685246\/","title":{"rendered":"EU Mercosur Trade Deal Garners Greenlight by EU Member Council."},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tMILAN<\/strong> \u2014 After over 25 years of discussions, the council representing European member states authorized the signing of a trade<\/a> deal with Mercosur that could potentially create the world\u2019s biggest free-trade area.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a statement, the European Commission said Friday that the EU Council representing its member states adopted two key decisions approving the\u00a0EU-Mercosur Partnership Agreement\u00a0and the\u00a0Interim Trade Agreement between the EU and Mercosur<\/a>. Mercosur is the South American bloc that includes Argentina,\u00a0Brazil<\/a>, Paraguay and Uruguay.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe European Commission said both agreements will require the\u00a0consent of the European Parliament, though the interim agreement does not require ratification and will remain in effect until the official trade<\/a> agreement is ratified. Trade to Mercosur has long been limited due in large part to steep tariffs<\/a>. The Brazilian market, for example, has until now, been highly protected with an applied customs averaging duty of 13.5 percent, according to the European Commission.<\/p>\n

\n\tUnder the interim agreement, tariff reductions and removal of barriers to cross-border trade in services will begin in the near-term to open access to new markets for a wide range of goods across agriculture, automotive, pharmaceuticals and chemicals.<\/p>\n

\n\tMercosur Is Crucial for Luxury <\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tSince U.S. President Donald Trump imposed sweeping tariffs<\/a> on foreign goods, luxury firms across fashion and design<\/a> have been banking on a reprieve that hinged on the swift approval of the crucial\u00a0European Union<\/a>\u00a0deal with Mercosur. This deal, for which talks commenced in 1999, covers a market of over 700 million consumers.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe\u00a0European Commission<\/a>\u00a0has said that the main goal of the deal is to increase bilateral trade and investment and lower tariff and non-tariff trade barriers \u2014 notably for the sort of small and medium-sized companies that are the backbone of European luxury, agriculture and services companies. The commission also said that the deal could save EU companies 4 billion euros\u2019 worth of export duties a year.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Ornare\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tOrnare is a Brazilian design company that has a European hub in Milan.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDSL Studio<\/p>\n

\n\tIn Italy<\/a>, fashion and design leaders have said the deal was key amid an ongoing slowdown due in part to China\u2019s declining appetite for European luxury goods and the industry losing loyal customers over rising prices.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cSwiftly bringing the Free Trade Agreement between the European Union<\/a> and the Mercosur countries to a conclusion is a strategic priority for the entire European industry and, in particular, for Italy<\/a>\u2019s textile\u2013clothing\u2013fashion value chain,\u201d Italy\u2019s industrial federation Confindustria Moda said in an emailed statement to WWD in December, adding that it is a key step in ensuring the sector\u2019s growth amid a challenging macroeconomic situation.<\/p>\n

\n\tMercosur\u2019s Impact on the Economy <\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tThe EU is Mercosur\u2019s second-largest partner in trade in goods, accounting for almost 17 percent of Mercosur\u2019s total trade in 2024. The EU\u2019s trade with Mercosur was worth over 111 billion euros in 2024. In 2023 (the most recent year for which there is available data) trade in services between the EU and Mercosur was worth over 42 billion euros.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThese agreements will create new opportunities for businesses on both sides, while ensuring robust safeguards for our most sensitive sectors and a fair, sustainable framework for trade,\u201d said Michael Damianos, Cyprus\u2019 minister for energy, commerce and industry.<\/p>\n

\n\tOpposition Remains<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tCountries like Italy were reluctant to sign the deal due to concerns over the protection of European farmers, who have expressed concerns about a potential flood of cheap imports.<\/p>\n

\n\tFrance<\/a>\u2018s President Emmanuel Macron has said France<\/a> would \u201cfirmly oppose\u201d the\u00a0European Union<\/a>\u00a0forcing through a trade deal with the South American bloc. A report from Euro News said that France, Poland, Austria, Hungary, and Ireland were among the nations that voted against the agreement, while Belgium abstained.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Louis<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tLouis Vuitton shoe factory in Venice, Italy.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFootwear News<\/p>\n

\n\tFollowing Friday\u2019s decisions, the European Commission said that the EU and its Mercosur partners will proceed with the signature of the agreements. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe trade agreement will fully enter into force once all EU member states and Mercosur parties have completed ratification. The interim agreement will remain in effect until it is superseded by the entry into force of the full partnership agreement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MILAN \u2014 After over 25 years of discussions, the council representing European member states authorized the signing of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":685247,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[2106,2000,299,5187,1699,36,2199,157554,1828,479,1201],"class_list":{"0":"post-685246","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-brazil","9":"tag-eu","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-european","12":"tag-european-union","13":"tag-france","14":"tag-italy","15":"tag-made-in-italy","16":"tag-supply-chain","17":"tag-tariffs","18":"tag-trade"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115867095129791512","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=685246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685246\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/685247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=685246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=685246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=685246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}