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EU-Mercosur agreement signed. von der Leyen’s challenge on tariffs

by AI | 21.Jan 2026 | Europe in brief AI

After 25 years of negotiations, the European Union and Mercosur signed in Asuncion one of the most important trade agreements in the world, capable of creating a free trade area equal to 20% of global GDP, creating new opportunities for 700 million people

Signing of the free trade agreement between the EU and Mercosur - Photo: European Union 17/01/26

Rome (ANSA) – After 25 years of negotiations, the European Union and Mercosur have signed in Asuncion one of the most important trade agreements in the world, capable of creating a free trade area equal to 20% of global GDP, creating new opportunities for 700 million people. Final approval will have to pass through a vote in the European Parliament where major uncertainties remain, and the path to ratification could take months.

Many farmers are already up in arms and are announcing new blockades with their tractors across half of Europe. That said, it is no exaggeration to call this a historic day in the context of economic but also political relations between Latin America and the Old Continent. An agreement, along the Brussels-Brasilia-Buenos Aires axis, that has explicitly taken on a geopolitical meaning as a clear challenge to the protectionist choices of recent months by Donald Trump.

The Argentine president, the ultra-liberal Javier Milei, thanked Prime Minister Georgia Meloni, crediting her with having brought the agreement to success “thanks to her commitment”. Ursula von der Leyen chose very clear words to describe the even moral value of the agreement and, on the other hand, to press the American president firmly, even without naming him: “This agreement,” attacked the president of the Commission, “sends a strong signal to the world. It reflects a clear and deliberate choice.”

“We prefer,” she added, “fair trade to customs duties. Now the world will have to listen to us. We are creating the largest free trade area in the world, a market worth almost 20% of global GDP, with incalculable opportunities for our 700 million citizens.” But von der Leyen went further, making it clear that the Union does not accept having a secondary economic weight, crushed by the US and Chinese giants.

“We are creating a platform to work on a range of global issues, from protecting our precious natural environment to reforming global institutions. We will join forces as never before, because we believe” – she stressed to applause – “that this is the best way to guarantee the prosperity of our peoples and our countries. And when our two regions speak with a single voice on global issues, the world will listen” (January 17).