Overview
- The Foz do Iguaçu summit on December 20 exposed sharp disagreements between Brazil's Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Argentina's Javier Milei over Venezuela.
- A planned Mercosur–EU agreement signing at the summit was postponed, with the new target date set for January 12.
- European divisions, with France and Italy cited as holdouts, drove the latest delay, according to the coverage.
- Valor reports the EU advanced a tougher safeguard clause that could reimpose protection if prices fall 5% over three years or import volumes rise 8%, a move critics say came without formal consultation of Mercosur.
- Despite frictions, Mercosur highlights recent FTAs with Singapore and EFTA, ongoing talks with the UAE, Canada and India, early dialogues with Japan, Indonesia and Vietnam, and the need to lift intrabloc trade from about 11%.