Mercosul and EFTA Sign Free-Trade Pact Linking $4.3 Trillion in Economies

Overview

• Signed in Rio de Janeiro on September 16, the agreement covers Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein and liberalizes roughly 97% of trade, with EFTA set to scrap all industrial and fishery import tariffs once in force.
• The treaty must be translated, approved and ratified domestically, and it can start applying bilaterally after at least one country on each side completes its internal procedures.
• The free-trade area would encompass nearly 300 million people; in 2024 Brazil exported US$3.09 billion to EFTA and imported US$4.05 billion, leaving a US$960 million deficit.
• Brazilian authorities cite openings for agro-industrial and higher-value goods such as meats, corn, soybean meal, fruits, roasted coffee, juices, honey, ethanol and tobacco, with industry pointing to gains in food, chemicals, machinery, metals and pharmaceuticals, and consumers likely seeing lower prices for items like Swiss chocolate, medicines and Norwegian cod.
• The pact spans goods, services, investment, IP, government procurement, trade defense and SPS measures, includes a 67% clean-energy threshold for digital-service benefits, retains safeguards for sensitive products, and is presented by officials as a pro‑multilateral response to rising protectionism that could help momentum for a Mercosul–EU deal.