The huge trade deal that caused a stir among French farmers

While the ink was drying on one of the world's largest trade agreements, signed in Uruguay this month and seen as a milestone for the global economy, anger was brewing thousands of miles away in France.

under deal Between the European Union on the one hand, and Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay on the other hand, customs tariffs will be significantly reduced and the quantities of permitted imports and exports will be increased.

The deal will affect nearly 800 million people.

This comes in marked contrast to Donald Trump's plans to dramatically increase protectionism when he returns to the White House next month.

The deal still needs approval from the 27 European Union member states, and France plans to block it, due to fears that it would harm its agricultural sector.

Alex Huerto, a 34-year-old French farmer, says she is worried about her future if the planned agreement goes ahead.

“I fear that the agreement will make it more difficult for farmers like me to meet their needs,” she says.

As a result, she hopes the French government can stop this.

The planned trade deal will mean more beef, chicken and sugar from South America arriving in the EU at lower prices. While in the opposite direction, the likes of European cars, clothing and wine will have greater access to the Mercosur region.

In order for France to block the deal, it must convince at least three other EU countries, representing at least 35% of the total population, to join it. Ireland, Poland and Austria are also opposed, but Italy would also likely need to join to achieve the required population quota.

With the media giving very conflicting reports on Italy's position, we will have to wait and see which direction Italians take when the vote is held sometime in 2025.

Meanwhile, French farmers continue to pressure Paris not to back down. French President Emmanuel Macron is listening, describing the trade agreement as “unacceptable in its current form.”

Ms. Huerto grows sugar beets, wheat and barley on a 150-hectare farm in the small village of Villeneuve-sur-Auvers, located 60 kilometers (37 miles) south of Paris.

It says the deal would hit French farmers hard in order to help EU manufacturers. “It feels like a bargaining chip. Farmers in the Mercosur countries (the name of the bloc of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) have fewer restrictions on pesticides and lower labor costs.”

Ms. Huerto's view is widely held across France's agriculture sector, which has been staging regular protests in recent months.

A few weeks ago, about 200 farmers threw bales of straw in front of the Grand Palais Museum and Exhibition Center in Paris.

They lit red torches and chanted slogans such as: “We feed you, show us some respect.”

The protest came in conjunction with the annual meeting of importers and exporters of goods being held at the place.

Stephane Gallet, cattle breeder and national secretary of the Baizan Farmers' Union, which organized the event, explained why it was held.

“Today's demonstration is a stance against free trade, especially the EU-Mercosur agreement, which we have opposed since it was first discussed in the late 1990s,” he said.

While France opposes the trade deal, other EU countries, such as Germany, Spain and Portugal, strongly support it.

Supporters welcome the fact that this would be a marked contrast to Trump's threats to increase protectionism.

“It would be a good signal at a time when we are moving in the opposite direction toward economic fragmentation and protectionism, especially with the re-election of free-trade skeptic US President Donald Trump,” says Uri Dadush, a research professor of trade policy at Harvard University. University of Maryland in the United States.

Professor Dadush adds that although European farmers will be negatively affected, he says this will be very limited.

“The deal poses a threat to European farmers, as the world's most competitive agricultural sector has access to their markets, but we are talking about a small amount of liberalization spread over a long period of time,” he says.

He points out that under the agreement, Mercosur countries will still have restrictions on what they can export to the EU. Such a proposed increased annual quota of beef exports still represents only less than 1% of EU meat consumption.

“The deal represents an opportunity to push for much-needed market-oriented reform in the EU’s highly subsidized agricultural sector and Mercosur’s highly protected factory sector,” Professor Dadush adds.

Chris Hegadorn, associate professor of global food policy at Sciences Po University in Paris and former secretary of the UN Committee on World Food Security, says the agreement will be generally beneficial for Europe – including its farmers.

“Obviously it depends on which subcategory you look at, but French cheese and wine producers will benefit,” he says.

He adds that it will also improve health and environmental standards in Mercosur countries, and increase relations with the European Union at a time when “China is also trying to gain a foothold in Latin America.”

But David Kayla, an economics lecturer at the University of Angers in western France and a member of the left-wing group Economists Alarmists, questions the EU's ability to impose higher standards in Latin American countries.

“It is impossible to control its implementation,” he says. “Our farmers will only face increased competition from countries with better climates and more fertile soil.

“But we need to protect European agriculture – this is also a matter of food sovereignty,” he stresses, adding that the Covid-19 pandemic has shown how quickly global supply chains can collapse in times of crisis.

Antoine Jumel, who in 2017 took over his family's 24-hectare chicken and beef farm in a small village near Boulogne-sur-Mer in northern France, says opposition to the trade deal is aimed at saving rural France.

“Farms continue to disappear, leaving villages abandoned – and the deal will only accelerate this,” says the 42-year-old.

“But farms are essential for rural cohesion, not least because they create jobs. People in France and beyond are increasingly voting for the far right because they feel confused and lonely.

“Farms can help bring them together again, by literally anchoring them.”

Back at the Grand Palais in Paris, cleaners were removing the remaining straw from the protesters.

Farmer Stefan Gallet was still nearby, watching them. “The agreement between the European Union and Mercosur is very harmful and would be truly symbolic if the EU member states did not ratify it,” he said.