Overview
- Mercosur formally opened negotiations with Japan on Tuesday, June 30, at a leaders summit in Asuncion to pursue an economic partnership agreement.
- The Japan talks follow two preparatory meetings earlier this year and a June bilateral between Brazil’s president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Japan’s prime minister that helped set the opening stage.
- Mercosur and Japan say a successful deal would link roughly 400 million people and an estimated combined GDP near $7 trillion by expanding market access and investment ties.
- Parallel talks are active with Canada, where officials hope to conclude a trade deal as soon as September or October, while Lula has said Mercosur aims soon to start formal engagement with China though no China talks have begun.
- The summit highlighted internal strains over how to share EU trade quotas after the bloc’s January EU deal entered provisional force on May 1, a dispute that could shape how Mercosur distributes benefits from new pacts and affects farmers and exporters in smaller member states.