France's united front against Mercosur deal starts to show cracks

Euronews

15-04-2025

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France's strong resistance to the Mercosur agreement is beginning to crack in response to concerns over potential restrictions on EU exports to the US.
'Existing and future trade agreements between the EU and other economies (JEFTA [the free trade agreement with Japan], CETA [the free trade agreement with Canada], the free trade agreement Mercosur‑EU) could further cushion tariff shocks linked to US trade policy,' Bank of France's Governor, François Villeroy de Galhau, said in his annual letter to French President Emmanuel Macron on 9 April.
In December the European Commission concluded a political agreement with the Mercosur countries - Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay - to establish one of the world's biggest free trade zones, encompassing 750 million people and about one-fifth of the global economy. The agreement now needs approval from EU countries before it enters into force.
France has long been opposed to the agreement. In particular, it denounced what it claimed would result in unfair competition for its farmers, calling for so-called 'mirror clauses' to be introduced in the deal, so that agricultural imports coming from the Mercosur meet the same production standards existing for EU farmers.
MEP Marie-Pierre Vedrenne (France/Renew), a prominent critic of the Mercosur agreement during the previous legislative term and former chair of the Trade Committee, has adopted a more measured tone recently.
'I do hold a personal conviction: remaining opposed to this agreement on principle alone doesn't seem reasonable to me,' she told Euronews.
Officially, France maintains that it is mindful of the evolving global trade context, but its position on the Mercosur agreement remains unchanged. Paris continues to reject the deal.
'The French position has not changed, but the context has and we take it into account,' a French diplomat told Euronews, 'The context is now in favour of the Mercosur agreement, and the Latin American countries are also looking for opportunities as the US market is closing. This must lead us to be ambitious in terms of protecting the environment and our farmers.' This stance was echoed by another French official.
The imminent arrival of Friedrich Merz as Germany Chancellor, and renewed EU impetus to diversify global trade partnerships in response to rising US protectionism, has intensified pressure on France and other member states opposing the EU-Mercosur agreement.
'The Mercosur free trade agreement with the four South American countries must come into force quickly,' Merz told German media Handelsblatt on 13 April.
Among the countries opposed to the deal, Ireland, keen to protect its farmers, said on 9 April through its Minister for Trade that it would maintain its opposition, and Austria remains opposed, while the Netherlands and Poland are critics of the deal.
Italy remains in favour of the agreement, though it wants impact on agriculture to be taken into account in the final text.
On Monday, a Commission spokesperson said that the EU executive was not planning to make any changes to the text.
The document that the member states will have to approve will be sent to them before the end of the summer, the Commission added.
In the meantime, uncertainty surrounding President Donald Trump's ongoing tariff war leaves open the possibility that EU critics of the Mercosur deal may reconsider their stance.