Europe’s attempts to get its way have been complicated by the election of left-wing and Peronist governments across South America, most notably Lula da Silva’s Workers Party in Brazil and Alberto Fernández’s Justicialist Party in Argentina.
Not threats of sanctions but mutual trust should drive the strategic partnership, Lula said, referring to the environmental clause the EU tried to include in the Mercosur trade deal.
President Lula’s recent remarks about the war in Ukraine cast doubts on the future of EU-South America trade relations, even though the bloc would badly need to counter China’s economic dominance in the region.
