Canada wants to close a trade deal with Mercosur this year in a bid to diversify away from the United States, its foreign minister said while visiting Brazil on Tuesday.
After a years-long freeze in talks between Canada and the South American bloc, Washington’s tariff offensive pushed both parties back to the table in 2025.
As Canada navigates an increasingly tricky relationship with its US neighbor, Foreign Minister Anita Anand said her country was looking to conclude an agreement with Mercosur by the end of the year.
“We have agreed to intensify FTA negotiations with the objective of concluding negotiations…ideally before the end of 2026,” she said after meeting her Brazilian counterpart Mauro Vieira in Sao Paulo. “We’re going to double non‑US trade agreements in the coming decades,” the minister said.
Brazil is leading talks on behalf of Mercosur, of which Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia are also members. “We’ve already had six rounds of negotiations that are moving along very well,” said Vieira, adding that “there are still some details to be worked out.”
Anand acknowledged concerns in Canada about a potential deal’s impact on domestic farming. After over a quarter-century of on-off talks, Mercosur and the European Union struck a deal in January, with fierce resistance from European farmers having stalled the process.
This cohort fears being undercut by cheaper goods from agricultural powerhouse Brazil and its neighbors. The EU must still ratify the deal, which provisionally came into effect in May. (AFP)
