Vienna (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Austrian Economy Minister Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer has urged the European Commission to prepare a final deal and ratification process for the Mercosur agreement, the free-trade deal signed in December, which aims to establish a unified market of 780 million consumers across Europe and Latin America.
“We should evaluate the Mercosur agreement in a completely new context,”
Hattmannsdorfer said in a statement, as reported by Bloomberg.
“We need this agreement now.”
“The objections to the original agreement are understandable,”
Said Hattmannsdorfer. But the advantages and opportunities for Austria as an exporter will outweigh these objections, he added.
How did Austria’s minister react to Trump’s tariffs?
Moreover, in response to Trump’s tariffs, Austria’s economy minister said on Thursday that the European Union‘s countermeasures against U.S. President Donald Trump’s universal tariffs should target Republican-led states and tech companies so as to force him to the negotiating table,
“We have to hit Republican states and we have to hit Donald Trump’s friends, the tech companies,”
Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer told a news conference, saying that the European Union would have to examine digital taxation and regulation.
Will Trump’s tariffs shift Europe’s trade alliances?
Experts indicate that President Donald Trump’s global tariffs are persuading Austria to abandon its long-standing resistance to a trade agreement between the European Union and the Mercosur bloc. The shift implies there’s one fewer European country opposing the deal that followed 20 years of negotiations. Some European nations, including France and Poland, have stated they won’t accept the agreement due to its potential effect on farmers, raising questions over its implementation.
Furthermore, the EU spokesperson on Friday said that striking a trade agreement with Latin America’s Mercosur bloc would be a “massive opportunity” for the European Union, given uncertainties initiated by U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to impose a new round of tariffs.
“We will be investing a lot of time and energy with member states to finalise the deal,”
He said.
Mercosur, founded in 1991, is a regional economic market with five full members: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. Venezuela’s full membership has been suspended since 2016, while seven other countries in South and Central America hold associate member status.
