How the EU–Mercosur Deal Became Europe’s Most Expensive Diplomatic Irrelevance.
Twenty-five years. A quarter of a century of summits, negotiating rounds, political crises, agricultural riots, and constitutional wrangling — and what does the European Union have to show for it? A trade deal with South America that, before a single tariff has been cut, is already drowning in legal challenge, political opposition, and strategic obsolescence. Welcome to the EU–Mercosur agreement: the most ambitious free trade deal Europe has ever built, and quite possibly the most pointless.