Overview
- The agreement links a market of roughly 700 million people, giving Mercosur preferential access to the European Union’s 450 million consumers.
- It provides immediate tariff cuts for many exports and phased reductions for others, sets quotas for sensitive goods such as beef, and requires Argentina to suspend most export duties on EU-bound goods from year three with defined exceptions.
- Mercosur preserved protections for selected manufactured and agricultural products, while the EU included a bilateral safeguard mechanism that can temporarily withdraw preferences if import surges or price drops threaten serious harm.
- Environmental and traceability commitments tied to the Paris Agreement make sustainability a condition for market access, alongside new disciplines on customs, services, procurement and intellectual property.
- EU-backed financing through Global Gateway and a €1.8 billion Reinforced Cooperation Fund is slated to support energy, infrastructure, innovation and industrial projects, with leaders from Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and the European Commission present at the signing and Brazil’s president absent.