Argentine President Javier Milei enacted a law on Thursday ratifying a trade agreement between the South American trade bloc–Mercosur–and 27 member-states of the European Union, paving the way to form one of the world’s largest free trading pacts.
Already approved by Argentina’s Chamber of Deputies, the agreement was later approved by the Argentine Senate on Thursday with 69 votes for the proposal, and three against.
With President Milei’s approval, the Mercosur-EU partnership will pave the way to establishing one of the largest trade associations in the world, comprising over 700 million people and consisting of 35% of global trade.
The proposed trade association has created a firestorm among residents in the European Union.
European farmers in France, Belgium, and Germany have organized widespread demonstrations in recent years to protest their government’s importation of cheap South American agricultural products, thus squeezing them out of the market.
Brazil in December, threatened to walk away from the agreement after several nations in Europe demonstrated hesitancy in following through on the deal.
In December, President Giorgia Meloni of Italy stated that any signing of the trade deal would be “premature.” France’s Emmanuel Macron vowed to his constituents that he would refuse to force any deal with Mercosur through parliament.
The European Parliament is reportedly awaiting a decision to be handed down by the European Court of Justice on the legality of the agreement.
However, the European Commission could begin rolling out a provisional application of the agreement before a ruling even comes in.
Uruguay, a founding member of the Mercosur bloc in 1991, finalized the trade deal with the EU in the House of Representatives after Argentina’s Chamber of Deputies approved the measure.
