AN EU-MERCOSUR TRADE PACT? IS IT FEASIBLE?

Brazil wants to strengthen commercial and political linkages with the European Union. The priority with Europe is to finalize a stalled trade pact between the EU and Mercosur (a bloc comprised of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Venezuela representing a market of 291 million people). One of the main difficulties in advancing an EU-Mercosur deal has been Argentina’s isolationist position on international trade. Throughout 2014, Mercosur countries hotly debated ways to move forward together.