Euractiv | 20 May 2026
UK fancies copying EU's Mercosur trade deal
by Sofia Sanchez Manzanaro / Eddy Wax / Maria Simon Arboleas
Britain is eyeing a Mercosur deal because the EU’s landmark trade agreement with the South American bloc is putting British producers at a disadvantage, a UK trade minister told Euractiv.
Chris Bryant said the EU deal has made European goods cheaper than British products for key markets such as Brazil and Argentina, putting Britain into the second place on trade.
“Maybe we’d like to do one [a trade deal] with Mercosur,” Bryant said in Strasbourg, pointing to the commercial logic of pursuing an agreement with a bloc comprised of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.
His comments come just as Brussels began provisionally applying its Mercosur agreement after decades of negotiations – a deal Bryant quipped “only took them twenty-seven years.”
“European goods will be cheaper in Brazil than British goods, and in Argentina,” Bryant said, adding that both are large economies.
“There’s a logic to wanting to pursue all of these kinds of things,” he added, while stopping short of confirming whether London is preparing for formal talks with Mercosur.
Post-Brexit trade
The remarks highlight the efforts of post-Brexit Britain looking to replicate – or compete with – EU trade arrangements around the world, even as the Labour government simultaneously pursues closer regulatory alignment with Brussels.
British farming groups are already wary of the implications of the EU-Mercosur deal. Although the UK is no longer directly party to EU trade agreements, the National Farmers Union (NFU) has warned that cheaper South American agricultural imports entering the EU market could indirectly squeeze UK producers.
UK farmers also strongly opposed the UK-Australia trade agreement signed shortly after Brexit, which will eventually allow unlimited tariff-free Australian beef imports after a transition period.
At the same time, as part of the EU-UK reset, Brussels and London are negotiating a sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) agreement aimed at easing food trade across the Channel through closer regulatory alignment.
Both sides are aiming to conclude talks in the coming months ahead of a summer EU-UK summit, expected to be in July, with implementation expected by mid-2027.
Under the arrangement, the UK is expected to align with EU food safety rules and apply stricter border checks on some imports from third countries – a prospect British produce traders have criticised.
Bryant suggested that such trade-offs are inevitable in major market access agreements.
“There are pieces of EU legislation we would need to adopt as part of regulatory alignment which will impact other countries, that is just a fact,” he said. “But you could say exactly the same of whatever deal we end up striking with the US.”
London, Washington deal
Bryant also said the UK’s trade arrangement with the US could end up looking more ambitious than the limited tariff-focused accord recently struck between Brussels and Washington.
The EU-US pact, informally dubbed the “Turnberry deal” after being finalised at Donald Trump’s Scottish golf resort, is largely viewed in Brussels as a tariff-management exercise rather than a traditional comprehensive trade agreement.
By contrast, Bryant argued the British version could end up resembling a more conventional free trade agreement.
“The UK version will feel not all that dissimilar to an FTA,” he said, adding that the agreement would “cover quite a lot of sectors.”
Negotiations with Washington are still ongoing, he stressed. “It’s all played out in a different way than usual,” Bryant said of negotiations with Donald Trump’s second administration. “But what we have all learned is that you can do business a little bit faster if you set your mind to it.”
Asked whether the UK deal would remain more advantageous than the EU-US arrangement, Bryant replied: “That was the undertaking right at the very beginning.”
