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EU-Mercosur Free Trade Agreement Voted Up, but Unanimity in Doubt

The European Commission and its allies have mobilized frantically in recent months to secure passage of the EU-Mercosur free trade agreement—which did occur today in Montevideo—to be in place before Donald Trump takes office in January. The fear is that he’ll try to prevent the four Mercosur members—Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay—from signing the deal which would create a free trade zone of 720 million citizens. The EU Commission argues that the agreement will strengthen Europe against the expected trade war with the Trump Administration and would be a preemptive move to prevent Mercosur from signing substantial deals with China. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen flew into Montevideo before the Mercosur heads of state summit began on Dec. 5 to secure passage of the agreement, which has been in negotiations for 25 years.

During the final press conference today in Montevideo announcing passage, there were not too many happy faces. Reuters quoted a source “close to the talks” who reported that the agreement “came out … but by the skin of its teeth.” Facing “pushback” at home, von der Leyen had flown into Montevideo at the last minute. The only two speakers were von der Leyen and Uruguay’s outgoing President Luis Lacalle Pou, a neoliberal free trade fanatic. The three other Presidents, Lula da Silva of Brazil, Javier Milei of Argentina and Santiago Peña of Paraguay, remained silent and no questions were allowed.

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