Canada seeks Mercosur trade deal by end of 2026

Canada wants to complete a trade agreement with Mercosur before the end of 2026 as it seeks to diversify trade away from the United States, Foreign Minister Anita Anand said during a visit to Brazil.

Anand spoke after meeting Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira in Sao Paulo. She said Canada and Mercosur had agreed to intensify free trade agreement negotiations with the aim of concluding them, ideally, before the end of 2026. She also said Canada planned to double non-US trade agreements in the coming decades.

Talks between Canada and the South American bloc had been frozen for years, but Washington’s tariff offensive pushed the two sides back to negotiations in 2025. Canada is managing a more difficult relationship with its US neighbor, according to the report.

Brazil is leading the talks for Mercosur. The bloc also includes Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia. Vieira said there had already been six negotiation rounds and that they were progressing well, while adding that some details still had to be settled.

Anand acknowledged concerns in Canada about how a possible agreement could affect domestic farming.

The report also noted that Mercosur and the European Union reached a deal in January after more than 25 years of intermittent talks. Resistance from European farmers had slowed that process, with concerns that cheaper goods from Brazil and its neighbors could undercut them. The EU still has to ratify that agreement, which provisionally took effect in May.