Happy Friday! Today, we talk about the prospects of the Mercosur-EU deal. Brazil’s fresh inflation data. And how Brazilians are growing more connected.
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Mercosur and the EU: closing the deal or breaking up?
Tatiana Prazeres, the foreign trade secretary at the Industry and Trade Ministry, told Reuters that negotiations between the European Union and Mercosur (the trade alliance between Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay) had several meetings in recent weeks.
Driving the news. Having been in the works for more than 20 years, the Brazilian side expects the deal to be finalized in December.
Yes, but … European officials have been less certain about the timetable.
The beef. Back in 2019, the two sides reached an agreement in principle, but ratification has proven elusive due to European environmental concerns. In March, the EU presented Mercosur with a side letter asking for additional climate commitments (which Brazilian officials called “punitive and discriminatory”).
- This year, the Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva government added a new item to the list of disagreements:...