Brazil’s vice president, Geraldo Alckmin, framed the Mercosur-European Union trade agreement as a sign that markets can still open despite a turbulent global backdrop marked by protectionism and unilateral moves. Speaking Wednesday during an interview at the presidential palace in Brasilia, Alckmin said the deal would provide “some solace” and told reporters, including The Associated Press, that it sends a “message that it is possible to open markets.”
Alckmin said he was among the key negotiators for the agreement reached in late 2024, which he said will provisionally come into force May 1. He pointed to the scale of the market involved, citing “a market of $22 trillion and 720 million people,” and said failure to finish the agreement would have meant Brazil would remain behind while competitors completed other deals.
The negotiations had dragged on for about a quarter-century, Alckmin said, and he described the political obstacles that slowed progress. He said fierce opposition by farmers and environmentalists delayed the deal in December, and that the agreement then faced another wall after European Union lawmakers sent it to the bloc’s judiciary.
Alckmin also addressed the legal pathway that allowed the deal to proceed without the European Parliament voting on it. He said the European Commission responded by saying it would provisionally enact the deal, while the arrangement would be halted after trade implementation if the European Court of Justice ruled against it.
Asked about what the trade deal represents for Brazil and its partners, Alckmin described it as a mutual outcome for both sides. He said, “It is a win-win. The societies of the Mercosur countries win, and so the 27 countries of the EU,” and he said he expects the agreement to lift Brazilian exports to the EU by about 13% per year.
Alckmin said the agreement was signed Jan. 17 and said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen repeatedly praised Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s administration for efforts to make the deal happen despite opposition in Europe. He said Brazil is the largest economy in Mercosur, estimating its 2025 gross domestic product at more than $2.3 trillion, and he confirmed that Brazil is also negotiating potential other deals, including with the United Arab Emirates and Canada.
In a separate portion of his remarks, Alckmin described how his political and economic outlook has shifted alongside Lula’s government. He said two decades earlier he and Lula were on opposite sides of the issue, including over negotiations for an EU deal involving Brazil and the Mercosur bloc, and he said they later worked together after Lula returned to power in 2022 and appointed Alckmin as trade and industry minister.
Alckmin said momentum for the Mercosur-EU deal increased after U.S. President Donald Trump took office and imposed tariffs on several countries, including Brazil. He also referenced French President Emmanuel Macron, one of the critics of the deal, who has demanded safeguards to monitor and stop economic disruption in the EU, and said Macron has called for increased regulations and inspections related to concerns such as pesticide restrictions and import checks at EU ports.
Alckmin rejected what he described as the claim that Mercosur countries lack environmental concerns. He said Brazil is “a role model of environmental preservation,” and cited that Brazil reduced deforestation in 50% as an example, adding that “so no one is too scared in either side,” because both blocs could ask for safeguards if an import boom occurs.
Alckmin said the agreement’s full implementation could take up to 12 years and argued that the gradual schedule is important for Mercosur companies to improve productivity and quality across thousands of products. He said fruit, beef and sugar industries in the bloc would be among the first to benefit, and he concluded, “It is better to do it gradually than not do it at all,” calling it “a very well-built deal.”