French farmers vow to block EU–Mercosur trade deal

Despite the optimism of the Brazilian government and positive signals from Europe regarding the final signing of the free trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union, possibly on December 20 in Rio de Janeiro, French farmers promise to maintain resistance and “fight against” the implementation of the treaty.

“It is a big problem for us. We are the bargaining chip. We feel that we are going to lose part of the market,” said the French farmer Arnold Puech d’Alissac, president of the World Farmers’ Organisation (WFO), to journalists on the 6th, during the COP30 Farmers’ Summit.

According to him, European farmers have higher production costs than those in Mercosur, are prohibited from using pesticides allowed in South American countries, and will face a new tax on nitrogen fertilizers starting in 2026. For European producers, the agreement could create “unfair competition” that would benefit farmers in Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay, said d’Alissac.

“We have a higher production cost. We do not have large feedlots, and regarding pesticides, you use them and we are not allowed to use them. And that obviously increases our production cost,” he argued.

D’Alissac mentioned a new tax that will be charged to producers starting in January 2026, from 30 to 400 per tonne of chemical nitrogen fertilizer. “Everyone produces this using gas. We are going to pay this tax. It is a new market distortion. You [South Americans] will not pay this tax. The product you sell to us will also not be subject to it. European farmers do not understand this double standard,” he criticized.

“European farmers continue to fight against the agreement. They are in favor of an agreement, but not this agreement. The problem is that the discussion stopped six years ago,” he said.

D’Alissac is a farmer in Normandy and has been a board member of the National Federation of Agricultural Operators’ Unions (FNSEA, in the French acronym) since 2014. The organization was at the center of a controversy that almost caused a diplomatic crisis between Brazil and France last year.

In November 2024, the global president of Carrefour, Alexandre Bompard, sent a letter to Arnaud Rousseau, president of FNSEA, informing him of the retailer’s decision to remove meat from Mercosur countries from its product portfolio in France. The measure was reportedly motivated by the “desperation and anger” of French farmers over the EU’s agreement with the South American bloc. The retailer reversed the decision and apologized to the Brazilian government after negotiations with the Ministry of Agriculture and threats of boycotts from the national production sector.

Asked about items that could be included in the agreement to secure approval from European producers, d’Alissac mentioned safeguard clauses that could be easily and unilaterally adopted, similar to those the EU maintains with the United Kingdom after the British left the European bloc.

“If trade is disrupted between the United Kingdom and the European Union, we can block the commercial relationship from one day to the next, from either side. With Mercosur, for example, we can only temporarily block the agreement. And only in the first six years of the agreement’s validity,” he said.

He stated that he supports an agreement with Mercosur, especially one that recognizes wine and dairy derivatives. “We need you. We also have barriers. I, as president of the WFO, want farmers to be happy, but I do not want my farmers to be unhappy. But we feel there is a market distortion,” he said.

Source: Globo Rural

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