Particle.news
Download on the App Store
39 ARTICLES
·
1h ago

EU and Mercosur to Sign Trade Pact Creating One of the Largest Free-Trade Areas

European lawmakers will vote next week on a court review that could stall ratification for up to 18 months.

Desde la izquierda: el presidente de Argentina, Javier Milei, el expresidente de Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou, la presidenta de la Comisión Europea, Ursula von der Leyen, el presidente de Brasil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, y el presidente de Paraguay, Santiago Peña, posan para una fotografía durante la Cumbre del Mercosur en Montevideo, Uruguay, el viernes 6 de diciembre de 2024. (AP Foto/Matilde Campodonico)
Image
Chatenay-Malabry (France), 15/01/2026.- A cow model painted in the colours of the French national flag with the words 'Fair trade milk' is displayed during a protest by farmers from agriculture and dairy industry unions against the EU-Mercosur deal, outside Lidl's headquarters in Chatenay-Malabry suburb, southwest of Paris, 15 January 2026. France's second-largest agricultural union, Coordination Rurale (CR), along with the APLI and the European Milk Board (EMB), has called for demonstrations to defend the farming profession, and to protest the influx of non-compliant imports replacing French products following the EU's approval of the Mercosur trade deal on 09 January 2026. Despite fierce opposition from the farming sector, the deal, which creates the world's largest free trade zone, is scheduled for official signing on 17 January 2026, in Asuncion, Paraguay. (Protestas, Francia) EFE/EPA/MOHAMMED BADRA
Javier Milei, en la Sesión Plenaria de la Cúpula de Jefes de Estado de los Estados Partes de Mercosur y de los Estados Asociados en Foz de Iguazú (Brasil). Foto: EFE.

Overview

  • The signing is scheduled for Saturday in Asunción, with Ursula von der Leyen and António Costa representing the EU, while Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will skip the ceremony after meeting EU leaders in Rio on Friday.
  • The agreement would phase out most tariffs on trade between the blocs—around 90% over transition periods—covering a market of roughly 720 million people, with quotas and safeguards on sensitive farm goods such as beef, poultry and sugar.
  • EU governments cleared the text by qualified majority (21 of 27), over objections from France, Poland, Austria, Ireland and Hungary, as farmer protests continue in several member states.
  • The European Parliament is not voting on approval yet; on Jan. 21 it will decide whether to ask the EU Court of Justice to review the pact’s legality, a step that would pause the Parliament’s ratification for an estimated 12–18 months.
  • Parts of the deal under exclusive EU competence could provisionally apply once a Mercosur country ratifies, even as full entry into force will still require European Parliament consent and national ratifications on both sides.