15/12/2025 – "After more than 25 years of negotiations, businesses in Germany expect the European Council and the European Parliament to finally conclude the agreement with Mercosur partner countries. The EU must not miss the opportunity to connect more closely with key trading and raw material partners in South America and remove existing trade barriers. The agreement offers significant economic potential through reciprocal tariff reductions and market openings. Closer partnerships for trade and investment will enable German companies to diversify their supply chains and strengthen their global competitiveness. The German government, too, should therefore unequivocally support ratification. Trade-restrictive measures – such as the regulation implementing the bilateral Mercosur safeguard clause – must not serve as a model for EU trade agreements. The less the EU offers its partners, the less it can expect in return. While the USA increasingly pursues isolation, open markets and reliable framework conditions for trade and investment are more important than ever for German companies.

Currently, around 85 percent of European exports to the Mercosur countries are subject to tariffs, resulting in additional annual costs of around four billion euros. In total, 12,500 German companies export to the region, of which 72 percent are small and medium-sized enterprises. For more than 100 years, German companies – supported by the chambers of commerce abroad – have been active in South America. They have long been waiting for this important breakthrough."

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