All posts tagged: Mercosur

EU trade deal with South America’s Mercosur bloc takes provisional effect | Business and Economy News

EU trade deal with South America’s Mercosur bloc takes provisional effect | Business and Economy News

Published by Sam Flores

The long-awaited deal creates one of the world’s largest free trade areas with 720m potential consumers. By Al Jazeera Staff and The Associated Press Published On 1 May 20261 May 2026 The long-awaited trade deal between the European Union and South America’s Mercosur bloc has provisionally come into effect, boosting business ties amid tariff threats and deepening uncertainty around global cooperation. The pact took effect on Friday after 25 years of negotiations, creating one of the world’s largest free trade areas, with 720 million potential consumers and an estimated value of $22 trillion. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list The agreement is only provisionally in effect because it is being challenged by the EU’s judiciary. They are fighting against European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s move to sidestep the EU parliament and provisionally enact the deal. The agreement will be halted if the European body rules against it The agreement, which was signed in January, is designed to lower tariffs and boost trade between the two regions. Together, the EU and Mercosur account …

The EU-Mercosur deal takes effect — but the fight over it goes on – POLITICO

The EU-Mercosur deal takes effect — but the fight over it goes on – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

What’s changing? The agreement will gradually eliminate duties on more than 90 percent of EU exports, including on cars, pharmaceuticals, wine and spirits, and olive oil. Some so-called non-tariff barriers — such as on labeling — will be removed. Public procurement markets will open up, allowing EU companies to bid for government contracts. The Commission estimates that EU exports to the Mercosur region will grow by 39 percent through 2040, to €50 billion. “The benefits are real and visible as of now,” von der Leyen said in a post on X. “Tariffs start falling. Companies are gaining access to new markets. Investors have the predictability they need.” But gains will be slower to materialize on some products. “In most cases, the tariff reductions will be phased in over a period of 10 to 15 years. The economic effects will therefore become apparent primarily in the medium to long term,” said Oliver Richtberg, head of foreign trade at Germany’s VDMA engineering federation. If either the Court of Justice or lawmakers ultimately reject the agreement, the European Commission …

Poland to challenge EU-Mercosur deal at top court — but don’t expect fireworks

Poland to challenge EU-Mercosur deal at top court — but don’t expect fireworks

Published by Sam Flores

Poland announced Friday it will file a legal challenge against the EU-Mercosur trade deal at the EU’s top court, in a largely symbolic gesture.  The reversal comes just weeks before the May 26 deadline for annulment actions under EU law, and barely a month after Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the government had no such plans. The move follows weeks of domestic pressure. The Polish parliament passed a resolution in mid-March urging the government to act, and President Karol Nawrocki, aligned with the opposition, sent Tusk a letter in early April demanding he file immediately. His spokesperson wasted no time claiming credit on X. It also follows an earlier — more effective — move from the European Parliament to refer the deal to the Court of Justice. Backed by MEPs in January, the case could delay the ratification of the full agreement for up to two years. In a bid to reap the deal’s benefit sooner, the European Commission will start applying its trade provisions from May 1.  Poland’s parallel filing adds political noise, not …

Jetzt oder nie – POLITICO

Jetzt oder nie – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

Für Kanzler Friedrich Merz wird dieser Montag zum „Manic Monday“. Zwischen den Hallen der Hannover Messe und den deutsch-brasilianischen Regierungskonsultationen wächst der Unmut der Bosse. Das Verhältnis zwischen Kanzleramt und Industrie ist nach fast einem Jahr schwarz-roter Regierung am Tiefpunkt. Gordon Repinski analysiert die tiefe Enttäuschung über das Ausbleiben echter Strukturreformen und die Wut über Klingbeils 1.000-Euro-Prämie, die in der Wirtschaft als bürokratisches Ablenkungsmanöver gewertet wird. Im 200-Sekunden-Interview ordnet Tanja Gönner, Hauptgeschäftsführerin des BDI, die Lage ein, was die Industrie jetzt vom Kanzler erwartet und was sie selbst bereit ist zu tun. In Hannover trifft Merz heute auch wieder auf Präsident Lula da Silva. Hans von der Burchard erläutert, warum Brasilien für Deutschland in Zeiten geopolitischer Verschiebungen als Absatzmarkt und Rohstofflieferant wichtiger denn je ist und was sich die deutsche Regierung von den Regierungskonsultationen konkret erhofft. Das Berlin Playbook als Podcast gibt es jeden Morgen ab 5 Uhr. Gordon Repinski und das POLITICO-Team liefern Politik zum Hören – kompakt, international, hintergründig. Für alle Hauptstadt-Profis: Der Berlin Playbook-Newsletter bietet jeden Morgen die wichtigsten Themen und Einordnungen. …

Canada Eyes Mercosur Pact by Autumn

Canada Eyes Mercosur Pact by Autumn

Published by Sam Flores

YAOUNDE, March 27 (Reuters) – ⁠Canada’s ⁠minister of international trade ⁠said on Friday that he hopes to conclude ​a free-trade agreement with South America’s Mercosur bloc by the autumn. “We’re ‌stepping up the negotiation timelines ‌a little bit. Hopefully we can have negotiations every ⁠six weeks ⁠or so, and hopefully we can get it done ​by the fall. That is the goal we’ve set between our partners,” Maninder Sidhu told Reuters on the sidelines of a World Trade ​Organization ministerial conference in Cameroon. The minister said he has had bilateral ⁠meetings ⁠with Argentina and Paraguay, ⁠and ​he will meet with Brazil and Uruguay on Friday on the sidelines ​of the WTO ⁠meeting in Yaounde, with the potential Mercosur-Canada trade agreement part of talks. “We’re very ambitious. I think we can get it done,” he said. Reuters earlier reported that an Argentine government official said ⁠the agreement was expected to be signed in September or October, ⁠marking roughly a year since negotiations formally restarted. Another diplomat, based in Brazil, also told Reuters negotiations were going at …

Middle East war having ‘huge impact’ on EU economy: Commissioner Christophe Hansen – Talking Europe

Middle East war having ‘huge impact’ on EU economy: Commissioner Christophe Hansen – Talking Europe

Published by Sam Flores

It’s no secret that farmers across the EU have grown increasingly frustrated with the state of their industry. Profitability is falling, competition from abroad is fierce, and worries about paperwork and bureaucracy continue to mount. Fewer young people are taking over the family farm, opting for other careers instead. On top of these long-standing challenges, the war in Iran is adding new pressures, particularly with rising fertiliser costs. We sat down to discuss these issues with the EU’s Commissioner for Agriculture and Food, Christophe Hansen. “The war going on in the Middle East is having a huge impact on our economy,” Hansen tells us. “We have trade flows going through these lanes. We are dependent on imports from there when it comes to oil and LNG (liquefied natural gas). But also, fertilisers are going through the affected region. Production sites (for fertilisers) are halted. So, this is creating problems for the agricultural sector. And generally speaking, our economy will have issues to cope with the situation.”  For Hansen, the war highlights the EU’s vulnerability when it comes to …

A battle against the EU – POLITICO

A battle against the EU – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

In an interview with POLITICO in 2024, Magyar said Tisza was pro-EU but was candid about the EU’s shortcomings. He expressed opposition to a European “superstate” and said he didn’t have “friends” in the European Parliament. That followed his first press conference in the Parliament, in which he opposed sending weapons to Ukraine. Earlier this year, Orbán’s Fidesz party sought to corner Magyar over the EU’s giant Mercosur trade deal with South America, which it opposes on the grounds it would harm Hungarian farmers. In Budapest, Orbán accused Magyar of backing the agreement and undermining farmers because Tisza sits with the center-right European People’s Party grouping in the European Parliament, which supported the trade pact.  So Orbán’s gone on the attack against two of his favorite bogeymen abroad: Brussels and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. | Ukrinform/NurPhoto via Getty Images Ultimately, however, Tisza voted in January to freeze ratification of the EU-Mercosur accord, breaking with the EPP line — a move that triggered a “shitstorm” against the Hungarian delegation at a subsequent group meeting, according to an official who was …

EU countries threaten to take Commission to court for giving Parliament extra powers – POLITICO

EU countries threaten to take Commission to court for giving Parliament extra powers – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

What keeps Council up at night The letter from the Council pushes back against parts of the agreement that would allow the Parliament to be present during international negotiations. The treaties “do not grant the Parliament a right of consultation during the negotiations stage, but only a right of information which does not include, nor justify, the participation of members of Parliament in coordination meetings,” the letter reads. Countries also don’t like a clause that would require the Commission to get approval from Parliament before temporarily putting trade deals into effect while they are still being ratified. Under the treaties, only the Council has a say in allowing a trade deal to be applied on a temporary basis. Included in the deal between Commission and Parliament is the former’s promise to provide a detailed justification if it uses Article 122 of the treaties, which allows the Commission and the Council to bypass the Parliament in emergencies. For example, Article 122 was used when setting up the loans-for-arms program SAFE to boost defence. The Council says this would …

Brussels pitches English-first approval to speed up EU trade deals  – POLITICO

Brussels pitches English-first approval to speed up EU trade deals  – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

Frontloaded scrubbing Legal “scrubbing” — a time-consuming process that ensures both parties agree on the precise meaning of a text and not just the overall commitments — would be “partly frontloaded during negotiations” and take place in parallel with the Commission’s adoption of the text, as well its presentation to the Council. The streamlined procedure reflects an “urgent need to diversify our trade partners” and to reap “the benefits of our trade agreements without delay,” the Commission writes in its seven-page presentation, adding this would only be applied to trade agreements that fall under the exclusive competence of the EU.  The EU’s recent agreements with India and Indonesia would be test cases of this accelerated procedure. “It will be taken up on legal scrubbing on a fast-track basis as we discussed … and translated into 24 languages simultaneously. We do hope that we should be able to celebrate the entry into force of this agreement within calendar 2026,” Indian trade chief Piyush Goyal said after leaders sealed the EU-India trade deal last month.  Prior agreements …

Trump-Milei pact piles pressure on EU to lock in Mercosur accord – POLITICO

Trump-Milei pact piles pressure on EU to lock in Mercosur accord – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

First come, first served?  Whichever agreement is ratified first could give the EU or the U.S. a first-mover advantage, with the runner-up possibly being told that Argentina has already made a commitment on the matter.  “It is hard to see how Argentina will be able to comply with both agreements,” said Geraldo Vidigal, a Brazilian professor in international trade law at the University of Amsterdam. The protection of EU specialty cheese and meat terms was one of the “big wins” for European agriculture in the EU-Mercosur agreement, he added.  Argentina’s move is evidence of “how stupid the EU has been in delaying and delaying and delaying the Mercosur agreement,” argued John Clarke, the EU’s former agricultural trade negotiator. In his view, the ball is now in Argentina’s court, with pressure on the EU and U.S. to get their agreements ratified first.  Although Ursula von der Leyen signed the accord at the start of the year, European lawmakers have thrown another wrench in the works. | Mauro Pimentel/AFP via Getty Images Alternatively, the Argentinians could wait …