The European Union-Mercosur Free Trade Agreement: Prospects and risks

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The European Union-Mercosur Free Trade Agreement: Prospects and risks

After nearly 20 years of on-off negotiations, the European Union and Mercosur – a customs union covering Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay – in

Publishing date: 24 September 2019
Authors: Uri Dadush Michael Baltensperger

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The quantifiable gains from the Free Trade Agreement between the European Union and Mercosur – Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay – are small on account of the small share of EU trade with Mercosur and the relatively modest ambitions of the deal in terms of liberalising agriculture in the EU and manufacturing in Mercosur.

Nevertheless, the agreement, if ratified and accompanied by reforms that strengthen competitiveness, could represent a major departure for Mercosur, pushing it towards an outward-oriented development strategy. The deal could also mark a significant step forward for the EU in its efforts to reform agriculture. The agreement faces a difficult ratification process, but is worth having and fighting for. Incorporating mechanisms to deal with environmental, especially deforestation, concerns will be particularly important. The agreement constitutes an insurance policy against further deterioration in the rules-based multilateral trading system.

About the authors

Uri Dadush

Uri Dadush is a Non-resident fellow at Bruegel, based in Washington DC, and a Research Professor at the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland where he teaches courses on trade policy and on macroeconomic analysis and policy. He is also a Non-Resident Fellow at the Policy Center for the New South in Rabat, Morocco and Principal of Economic Policy International LLC, providing consulting services to international organizations.

Uri Dadush’s new book is Geopolitics, Trade Blocks, and the Fragmentation of World Commerce, Lexington Books,

Uri was a co-chair of the Trade, Investment and Globalization Task-Force of the T20 and Vice-Chair of the Global Agenda Council on Trade and Investment at the World Economic Forum. He was previously Director of the International Economics Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Prior to that he was Director of International Trade, Director of Economic Policy, and Director of the Development Prospects Group at the World Bank. Based previously in London, Brussels and Milan, he spent 15 years in the private sector, where he was President of the Economist Intelligence Unit, Group Vice President of Data Resources Inc., and a consultant with McKinsey and Co.

His books include: Trade Preferences, Foreign Aid and Self-Interest; Trade Policy in Morocco: Taking Stock and Looking Forward (with Pierre Sauve' , co-editor); WTO Accessions and Trade Multilateralism (with Chiedu Osakwe, co-editor); Juggernaut: How Emerging Markets Are Transforming Globalization (with William Shaw); Inequality in America (with Kemal Dervis and others); Currency Wars (with Vera Eidelman, co-editor); and Paradigm Lost: The Euro in Crisis. His new book, 'Geopolitics, Trade Blocks and the Fragmentation of World Commerce' will be published by Lexington Books in September 2024.

His columns have appeared in the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Il Sole 24 Ore, Le Monde, Liberation, L’Espresso and El Pais.

He has a BA and MA in Economics from Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a PhD in Business Economics from Harvard University.
Michael Baltensperger

Michael is a research assistant at Bruegel focusing on international trade and energy economics. Prior to joining Bruegel, he worked for the Economic Research and Statistics Division of the World Trade Organization and as an external collaborator for the International Labour Organization. As a student, Michael was a research assistant for Political Economy at the Faculty of Business and Economics in Basel.

Michael holds a Master’s degree in International Economics from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva and Bachelor’s degrees in History as well as Business and Economics from the University of Basel.

He is a Swiss citizen, speaks German and English and has a good knowledge of French.