The EU offers new protections for farmers as it seeks to build support for Mercosur trade deal

The European Union’s executive arm on Wednesday unveiled detailed proposals to protect farmers from being undercut by imports from South America as it seeks to build support for its deal with the Mercosur trade alliance.

The deal between the EU and the five Mercosur countries — Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia — would progressively remove duties on almost all goods traded between the two blocs over the next 15 years. Provided it is ratified by both blocs, the accord would create one of the world’s largest free trade zones, covering a market of 780 million people that represents nearly a quarter of global gross domestic product.

However, it has faced vehement opposition from Europe’s agriculture sector. The proposals unveiled Wednesday would give farmers new mechanisms to complain and force the European Commission to investigate trade imbalances stemming from the Mercosur deal.

A commission statement said that the proposal would increase protections so that in the “unlikely event of an unforeseen and harmful surge in imports from Mercosur or an undue decrease in prices for EU producers, swift and effective protections would kick into gear.”

The commission says it would launch investigations if import prices from Mercosur are at least 10% lower than the prices of the same or competing EU products. If there is serious injury, preferential tariffs could be temporarily withdrawn.

There are also special provisions for sensitive sectors including beef, eggs and ethanol.

The EU-Mercosur deal, which was agreed in December after nearly 25 years of negotiations, must be approved by the bloc’s 27 member states, as well as the European Parliament.