Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has expressed his desire to finalize a trade deal between the European Union and Mercosur while he is still in office as the president of the South American bloc, during a phone call with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen on Monday.
Lula stated that he and von der Leyen hope to meet at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai later this month to further discussions towards this long-awaited agreement.
Brazil currently holds Mercosur’s temporary presidency until the end of this year, and the South American trading bloc also includes Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
“I presented all of our points to her, and she indicated that she will attempt to schedule a meeting with me at the COP28 to provide their final response to our demands,” Lula stated during a live social media broadcast.
While a trade treaty was tentatively agreed upon in 2019 after two decades of negotiations, additional environmental commitments requested by the EU caused Brazil and Argentina to seek further concessions, prolonging the discussions.
Despite the recent presidential election victory of far-right libertarian Javier Milei in Argentina, diplomats and trade experts do not anticipate any disruptions to the agreement. It is important to note that Milei has been a very vocal critic of the South American common market.
Reuters reported on Monday that Brazilian negotiators believe that there are only a few details left to be resolved, and they plan to announce the deal at a Mercosur summit on Dec. 7 in Rio de Janeiro, before Argentina’s change of government.
(Reporting by Gabriel Araujo, editing by Ed Osmond and Sharon Singleton)
