Mercosur’s missed boat

AT A meeting in Brussels this week, officials from the European Union (EU) and Mercosur exchanged offers to cut tariffs and expand market access for each others’ goods and services. This is their second attempt to begin serious negotiations on a free-trade agreement—a mere 16 years after the idea was first mooted.

The first effort collapsed in 2004, when both sides judged the other’s offer to be insufficiently ambitious. Even now, nobody should count on success. The core Mercosur countries—Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay—are keener. But 13 European countries, led by France, want to scupper the talks because their farmers are scared of Mercosur, the world’s most competitive producer of grains and meat. They forced the EU to withdraw, at the last minute, proposed tariffs cuts on beef.