Brazilian Senate gives final go-ahead to Mercosur-EU deal

Brazil’s National Congress has completed approval of the trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union, concluding a negotiation process that began more than 25 years ago. After approval by the Chamber of Deputies last week, the Senate on Wednesday (4) gave its backing to the treaty that creates one of the world’s largest free trade areas.

As in the lower house, senators approved the agreement unanimously in a symbolic vote in the plenary. The text now moves to promulgation.

The rapporteur for the agreement in the Senate, Tereza Cristina (Progressives Party, PP, Mato Grosso do Sul), supported the approval of the text but stressed the need for the Executive branch to establish safeguards to protect Brazilian rural producers. The measures will be implemented through a decree already issued by the Executive, resulting from negotiations with Vice President Geraldo Alckmin, who also serves as minister of Development, Industry and Trade.

“The safeguards caused some uncertainty at the end, when the agreement was already ready. In Brazil, we implemented bilateral safeguards, which are already prepared and have been signed by President Lula. So today we are ready to access this large market,” Senator Cristina said.

In practice, the bilateral safeguards will act as a kind of “brake,” allowing the country, for example, to raise tariffs, limit import volumes or suspend tariff preferences to give local producers breathing room while sectors adjust to foreign competition.

The rule establishes that such measures may only be applied after an investigation conducted by the Trade Defense Department of the Secretariat of Foreign Trade. The final decision will rest with the Foreign Trade Chamber (Camex), based on a technical opinion.

The trade agreement brings together countries totaling about 718 million people and a combined GDP of approximately $22.4 trillion, forming an integrated market between Mercosur—made up of Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay—and the European Union’s 27 member states.

Under the negotiated terms, the European Union will eliminate import tariffs on about 95% of goods traded with Mercosur, corresponding to 92% of the value of European imports of Brazilian products. Mercosur, in turn, will liberalize tariffs on approximately 91% of goods, equivalent to 85% of the value of imports from European Union countries.

The tariff reductions will occur gradually, over periods ranging from four to 15 years, a timeframe considered necessary to allow South American economies to adapt to trade opening.

Among the sectors directly affected are industrial products such as machinery, automobiles, chemical products and aircraft, which will progressively reach zero tariffs. The expectation is that the measure will expand access for Brazilian products and strengthen integration into global production chains.

The following breakdown details the leading inbound commodities to Brazil from the European bloc in January 2026, the most recent month of Datamar’s updated trade figures:

Top EU Imports | Jan 2026 | TEUs

Source: DataLiner (click here to request a demo)

The treaty also establishes rules for trade safeguards, especially in sectors considered sensitive. On the European side, parallel mechanisms allow investigations to be opened in cases of significant increases in imports from Mercosur or relevant drops in prices of agricultural products.

For the Brazilian government, the agreement has the potential to diversify the country’s trade partnerships and encourage the modernization of national industry through greater integration with the European market. The European Union is currently Brazil’s second-largest trading partner.

Despite approval by the parliaments of Mercosur and the European Union, the agreement still faces institutional steps within the European bloc. In January, the European Parliament decided to submit the text to a legal review by the Court of Justice of the European Union, a procedure that may delay the treaty’s full entry into force.

Source: Valor International

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