EU to vote on Mercosur trade deal with South America

Representatives of the European Union's member states are expected in Brussels on Friday to finalize the Mercosur free trade agreement with South American countries.

At least 15 of the EU's 27 states, representing 65% of the bloc's population, must agree for the proposal to proceed.

The deal is expected to be approved with the necessary majority, although that will be without the support of some key players.

France's President Emmanuel Macron confirmed late Thursday that his country would not be backing the treaty, saying France's political forces were "unanimous" in their rejection of the deal.

"France is favorable to international trade, but the EU-Mercosur agreement is an agreement from another age, negotiated for too long on bases that are too outdated," Macron said in a post on X.

The EU-Mercosur deal — which if ratified, would create one of the world's largest the world's largest free trade blocs — was initially meant to have been signed in Brazil in December.

It was met with resistance from member states, among them Italy, France and Poland, and had to be postponed.

The deal seeks to diversify trade amid US tariffs and would bring EU member states closer to Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina and Uruguay, by removing import tariffs on more than 90% of products.

The EU says businesses in the bloc stand to save billions worth of duties each year and that it will help exports of vehicles, machinery, wines and spirits to Latin America.

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"This is the biggest free trade agreement we have negotiated," EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic said Wednesday following last-minute talks.

"We have in our hands the opportunity to send the world an important message in defense of multilateralism, and to reinforce our strategic position in a global environment that is more and more competitive," Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said in December.

There has been stiff resistance among farmers, but despite that, the governments of Germany and Spain are among those strongly in favor.

Farmers have voiced their concerns that the deal threatens to undercut them with cheaper imports, however Berlin and Madrid say the deal will provide a welcome boost to industries battling with Chinese competition and tariffs in the United States.

Thursday saw farmers take their tractors into the streets, blocking routes in Paris and parts of Germany.