The EU is already Mercosur`s main trading and investment partner. [1] In 2018, 20.1% of the trade bloc`s exports were exported to the EU. [8] Mercosur`s exports to the EU amounted to EUR 42.6 billion this year[8], while EU exports to Mercosur countries amounted to EUR 45 billion. [8] Mercosur`s largest exports to EU countries are agricultural products such as food, manufactured beverages and tobacco, plant products such as soybeans and coffee, and meat and other animal products. [8] Among Europe`s largest exports to Mercosur are machinery, transport equipment and chemicals and pharmaceuticals. [8] In 2017, the EU exported 23 billion euros of services to the South American trading bloc, while around 11 billion euros of services arrived from Mercosur to Europe. [8] The EU must adopt an aggressive stick-and-carrot approach in trade agreements to end deforestation and avoid a future pandemic, writes Fazlun Khalid. Click here to see our previous indiscretions about the 2017 EU-Mercosur Free Trade Agreement. Following the adoption and publication, On 1 July 2019, from the “agreement in principle” of 17 languages, 29 unfinished texts of the chapters and annexes of the trade agreement with the Disclaimer were published in July and September 2019, that they “were published only for informational purposes and that further changes may be made, including as a result of the legal review process.” The main plans to liberalise goods, services and investment have not yet been released. [35] In the meantime, negotiations continued for the other parts of the EU-Mercosur Association Agreement and ended on 18 June 2020 with an agreement on the pillars of political dialogue and cooperation, the preamble and institutional and final arrangements. [36] This text has not yet been published by the official authorities, but has been disclosed by Greenpeace.

[37] Greenpeace condemned that commitments to protect nature or manage the climate emergency, as defined in the UNFCCC Paris Agreement, were not included in the conditions under which one party could clean up the other sanction or suspend the agreement. [38] On 4 May 2010, the European Commission decided to resume trade negotiations with MERCOSUR. After the resumption, the first round of negotiations was held in Buenos Aires from 29 June to 2 July 2010. The second round took place in Brussels from 11 to 15 October and the third round took place in Brasilia from 22 November to 7 December 2010. In February 2011, MERCOSUR and the EU met in Paraguay and Uruguay to advance their ongoing trade negotiations. The subsequent rounds of negotiations took place in Brussels on 14 and 18 March 2011 and in Asuncion, Paraguay, on 2 and 6 May 2011. The delegations of MERCOSUR and the European Union held working meetings from 4 to 8 July 2011 as part of the BIREGIONAL NEGOTIATION COMITÉ (BNC).