The state of play in EU-LATAM trade

The EU has been using trade policy to export its standards on
competition policy, environmental protection and human rights
among other policy areas, which has famously become known as ‘The
Brussels Effect’. But this could eventually get in the way of
trade deal negotiations. For example, the EU-Mercosur Trade
Agreement is bogged down by Amazon deforestation concerns since
2019. 

But can the EU afford to prolong the trade deal negotiations with
Latin America countries, given Latin America’s increasingly
important role in global economics, from the reconfiguration of
the global supply chains to being a key component for critical
raw materials, which is a strategic emerging consumer’s market
and an indispensable natural resource for the planet?

In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Giuseppe Porcaro
invites Alan Beattie, Alicia García-Herrero and David Kleimann to
discuss the state of play of EU-LATAM trade relations and how the
EU should proceed to showcase its commitment to trade openness
and economic engagement.