VDA Partner Portal

After more than 27 years of negotiations, the trade component of the EU-Mercosur trade agreement is provisionally entering into force. This is good news, and long overdue, for the economies of both contracting parties. With this agreement, they are sending an important signal for rules-based international cooperation, economic sovereignty, and international competitiveness in a time of global upheaval.

The potential of the EU-Mercosur agreement is enormous and crucial for the German and European automotive industries. The agreement's significance for our sector lies, among other things, in the reduction of Mercosur's currently relatively high tariffs of 14 to 18 percent on automotive parts and even 35 percent on passenger cars. Despite these tariff barriers, European automotive companies exported automotive goods worth approximately €6.5 billion to the Mercosur countries in 2025 alone. The now-phased tariff reductions are expected to significantly increase this figure in the future.

It is therefore all the more important that the agreement can soon formally enter into force. The European Court of Justice must therefore review it swiftly, and subsequently the European Parliament must give its final approval. Only then can this agreement reach its full potential in the interest of both sides. And only then will companies that trade with or produce in the Mercosur countries receive what they so urgently need in these volatile times: planning certainty.