Lula in a bind
The EU-Mercosur agreements are the result of Germany's need to secure markets for its struggling industry. Lula needs to boost his leadership after the enlargement of the BRICS and the Trump-Milei friendship. He can do this by raising his profile as the leader of a Mercosur that is awakening again. Both sides of the Atlantic are working to form an alliance to counterbalance China and the United States. If both blocs take up some of Milei's suggestions, they could have a win-win relationship. In the short term, this does not seem likely, but in the long term, it will be of enormous strategic value. This type of agreement and search for trade interdependence between democracies, which does not exclude Chinese investments in infrastructure, but uses them for the benefit of the Atlantic, strengthens the Western democratic Latin American institutionality that is more willing to comply with sustainable trade protocols. This route is more expensive but safer than the Chinese one. ...