Will France BLOCK the Mercosur Deal & INFURIATE Germany?

Europe is in turmoil as the Mercosur trade deal pits Germany against France in a battle over tariffs and agriculture. German industries see hope in new markets, but French farmers fear cheap imports could devastate local agriculture. Meanwhile, deforestation and environmental concerns loom large, adding fuel to the controversy. With the EU's unity at stake, will this landmark agreement strengthen Europe or deepen its divides?

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[aresee]

Let me get this straight. Fair competition is whatever benefits you, while unfair competition is whatever benefits the other side. Got it.

I imagine that all industrial products that EU exports to Mercosur are not unfair competition AND are environmentally friendly. Right?

[escwilde]

This is such a great purposal. South America is a trade partner sharing many values with the EU and often stays out of drama. Why should we block this?..

[la_carratamirabella]

Brazilian/Luxembourguish dual national here. I have family in Mato Grosso, which is a state with part of it in the Amazon and Pantanal biomes, who are soy and banana farmers. I live in Rio Grande do Sul and often go to my grandparents' farm to help them in corn, grape and tangerine yields. I also have plenty of family living in the EU for more than 20 years, so I think I have some weight to my claims (no expert, just personal experience).

The deal, in the most parts, favors the EU. The BRL is insanely cheap for someone who spends in EUR. Imagine paying 6x less on beef, mangoes (oversimplifying things, not taking transportarion, packaging into account, just considering currencies). Would make consumer life cheaper for EU citizens both for food as well as energy, considering we produce over 3 Million barrels of oil per day, as well as lots of lithium, gas, niobium and uranium. The only thing that would benefit us in the Mercosul is cheaper industrial products, especially cars (a VW Polo is 90k BRL, over 20 times the minimum wage). My parents have been using a 2014 Duster because it's the only thing they can afford, industrial products are very expensive due to high import tariffs.

The enviromental part is a good point, except of you look at the amount of regulation farmers have to attend when planting on forest area. My family in Mato Grosso is obligated by law to conserve 85% of their property and my grandparents over 40%. Also, Embrapa is a very powerful entity, since it helps increase yields on less land, water and in a changing climate. IBAMA can be a pain in the ass.

Of course there is deforestation and Native land invasion, that is a fact. We can do better to preserve our nature. There are bad people that use fire as a tool to clean area and go "whoops" when a wildfire happens. But claiming that us in LATAM don't do crap about it is also wrong, when you look at our agricultural and mining regulations

TLDR: It benefits mostly the EU, and enviromental issues are not that well justified.

[RichardAB]

1.2% of all the beef consumed in the EU, hardly a threat to anyone. Thanks for the fact-filled report. After watching, I am now in favour of the deal.

[DeggaTheDev]

Uruguay here. this deal would be great for everyone. the environmental concerns are practically baseless at this point.
yes, member countries are still "developing" but we're doing so in a green way.
plus, I don't want us to be overly reliant on China or North America.

[beynar]

In Poland we almost do not eat beef because it is too expensive. We eat unhealthy pork sausages and bacon. Mercosur can be a blessing for many people.

[ola_pa]

As a European consumer, I'm quite happy. Better quality and cheaper food.
Also, new jobs.

[Tolsanomics]

400 million citizens will spend less on groceries, enabling them to purchase other things and supporting the creation of more advanced jobs. The division of labor benefits everyone. However, some closed-minded French farmers resist change and are even willing to disrupt the country if necessary

[harfang]

As a French I’m fine with most stuff in that deal, yet 77% of ppl here reject it, I fear that passing it would make average voters feeling cheated on and see it as forced upon them, which would drive up ressentiment against the EU / cause the RN to gain a lot of votes for the 2027 elections

[constantine]

The farmers of Europe deserve to finally face some competition instead of undercutting third-world farmers due to their EU subsidies. New Zealand went completely laissez-faire with their farmers, removing all subsidies, and they now have the most successful agricultural industry in the world.

[SantinoIannuzzi]

In Argentina there are concerns about small industies aswell, because they'll have to compete with German factories. I'm still in favor though, both the EU and Mercosur will benefit from the agreement.

[Thats_quite_cool]

7:26 as a Dutchman I can tell you this is very much because of the policy aims of the BBB who rely on the backing of their mostly agricultural and rural voter base. While for the Netherlands overall this would be a great deal, especially considering Rotterdam’s importance in import and export, the agricultural lobby is very strong in the current government.

[rovirapoulos]

I‘m from Spain, and I fully support this deal. The benefits are much higher than the cons. It can also be the start for future deals with Mercosur.

[cdp]

It’s surprising that Mercosur agreed with this in the first place. It looks disadvantageous to them.

[albevanhanoy]

The deal is already incredibly in favour of Europe. It would be stupidly unfair to ask more of the Mercosur countries!

[TheBerserk]

Most of my relatives are farmers, for 30 years now they get serious subsidies and i mean serious, almost the same as the profit they make from the farming itself. These subsidies aim was investing in the new technologies which would make their farms not only more productive but also enviromentally friendly. Half of my relatives have done this and now not only they comply with EU but they sell their products globally. The other half just pocketed the money now they cry because they are not competitive.

[elisagadea]

🇺🇾 here. In 2023 we exported 701.651 tons of meat. We are a cattle country. Regulations are strict, it's premium meat, not low quality. I think Europe is in trouble already... Blocking the deal seems stupid. I think that the european's union problem is that there's, ironically, no union. Countries trying to protect themselves individually, not thinking about the whole. We, latin americans, are survivors, (remember that part of the richness that Europe has was built thanks to our resources, since colonization), we'll keep prospering, in fact the deal goes 25 years in the making, so imagine. The point is, due to their geopolitical and economical situation, I think Europe needs this deal more than we do nowadays. Macron is not in his senses.

[johnrodgers]

Considering I live in a large beef producing country, this isn't great for our farmers, but meat should be cheaper to buy as it is so expensive I tend to do without often as I can't afford it.

[luis-iede]

The fact that South America has lower costs and economies of scale means they have comparative advantages over you. Not that it is unfair competition. Also, some states in Brazil, uruguai, and parta pf argentina are very heavily regulated (and taxed!), but there are still tariffs to level ot out a bit.