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EU-strikes major new free-trade deal with right-wing Mercosur bloc

THE EU has struck a major free trade deal with the predominantly right-wing South American economic bloc Mercosur after 20 years of negotiations.

The draft deal will create the largest free trade zone in the world, covering over 770 million people.

It will loosen or remove trade tariffs with the aim of making imported products cheaper for consumers while boosting exports for companies on both sides.

Brazil’s far-right President Jair Bolsonaro hailed it as “historic” and “one of the most important trade deals of all time.”

Unelected head of the EU Commission Jean-Claude Juncker welcomed the biggest trade deal in the neoliberal bloc’s history.

“We stand as proud co-owners of the trade agreement between the EU and Mercosur,” he said.

“United, we delivered for our people and our businesses — 20 years to the day after negotiations began.”

The Mercosur economic bloc is made up of Latin and South American countries Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay. Venezuela was suspended in 2016.

Environmental group Greenpeace said the deal was a “disaster for the environment on both sides of the Atlantic.”

It warned the agreement would lead to more destruction of the Amazon rainforest and attacks on indigenous peoples.

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