By Pedro Augusto<\/strong><\/p> Negotiations for a free trade agreement between Mercosur and Canada have been officially resumed. The announcement was made by Brazil\u2019s Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira during a meeting with Canada\u2019s Minister of International Trade, Maninder Sidhu, at the Itamaraty Palace in late August, in Bras\u00edlia. The progress comes at a time when recent tariffs imposed by the United States reposition the negotiation as a strategic alternative for both blocs.<\/p> \u201cThis will be a timely and strategic step that responds to the current moment of the international economy and demonstrates the willingness to seek greater integration, competitiveness, and opportunities for our productive sectors,\u201d said Vieira.<\/p> Sidhu\u2019s visit to Brazil reinforced the movement to strengthen ties with South America. In addition to the meeting at Itamaraty, the Canadian minister attended the Brazil\u2013Canada Business Forum, held at the Federation of Industries of the State of S\u00e3o Paulo (FIESP), in S\u00e3o Paulo\u2019s capital.<\/p> \u201cCanada wants to be Brazilians\u2019 preferred partner in trade and investment, and we are together as reliable trade allies to further strengthen this relationship,\u201d said Minister Sidhu during the Brazil\u2013Canada Business Forum at FIESP, highlighting Brazil\u2019s leading role within Mercosur.<\/p> Talks to intensify trade relations between South American countries and Canada formally began in 2018, with seven rounds held through 2019, covering topics such as services, investments, and intellectual property. The process was interrupted in 2020 by the pandemic and, despite a modest resumption in 2023, little progress was made. Now, with the repositioning of global value chains, dialogue is once again at the center of the agenda.<\/p> In 2024, total trade between Mercosur and Canada reached CAD 15.8 billion (approx. BRL 64 billion at the current rate), with strong complementarities between the blocs: Mercosur is competitive in agribusiness and industrial commodities, while Canada stands out in services, technology, and high value-added goods.<\/p> Brazil, Mercosur\u2019s main partner, recorded bilateral trade of CAD 12.5 billion (BRL 50.7 billion) with Canada in 2024. Brazilian exports totaled CAD 8.71 billion (BRL 35.3 billion), led by bullion dor\u00e9 (CAD 2.49 bn \/ BRL 10.1 bn), calcined alumina (CAD 2.23 bn \/ BRL 9.1 bn), and cane sugar (CAD 895 mn \/ BRL 3.6 bn). On the Canadian side, exports reached CAD 3.84 billion (BRL 15.5 billion), driven by potassium chloride (CAD 1.72 bn \/ BRL 6.9 bn) and turbojets (CAD 189 mn \/ BRL 761 mn).<\/p> The FIESP meeting was also attended by company representatives, government officials, and Hilton Nascimento, President and Director of the Chamber of Commerce Brazil\u2013Canada (CCBC), who highlighted the potential for expanding Canada\u2019s relations with Mercosur. \u201cThe Mercosur\u2013Canada agreement represents a historic opportunity to bring our markets closer together and generate good business for everyone,\u201d said Nascimento.<\/p> Expected Benefits<\/strong> Strategic sectors such as clean energy, biofuels, infrastructure, mining, fertilizers, and technology stand out as priority areas for cooperation. In addition, the agreement is expected to boost investment and services with greater legal certainty, with potential in finance, telecommunications, transportation, and government procurement.<\/p> \u201cThe Brazil\u2013Canada Chamber of Commerce acts as a bridge between investors and companies in both countries; we are confident that resuming negotiations with Mercosur will generate more investment and technology, further strengthening the relationship that already exists between Canadians and Brazilians,\u201d added Nascimento.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Visit of Minister Maninder Sidhu to Brazil also signals progress in talks and opportunities for both countries<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":71711,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"1080","footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[555,215,125,1032,229,1965,584,1627,209,227],"class_list":["post-71723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-ccbc","tag-brazil-canada","tag-business","tag-canada-en","tag-canada-day-en","tag-ccbc-en","tag-ccbc-50-anos-en","tag-comex-en","tag-educacao-2-en","tag-innovation","tag-tecnologia-en"],"cp_meta_data":{"_encloseme":["1"],"_wpml_word_count":["{\"total\":701,\"to_translate\":{\"fr\":701,\"pt-br\":701}}"],"_wp_old_date":["2025-04-26","2025-09-27"],"_et_pb_use_builder":["off"],"_et_pb_old_content":[""],"_et_gb_content_width":["1080"],"footnotes":[""],"_et_monarch_override":[""],"sb_djhf_disable":["0"],"_et_post_bg_color":["#ffffff"],"_et_post_bg_layout":["light"],"_et_pb_show_title":["on"],"_et_pb_post_hide_nav":["default"],"_et_pb_page_layout":["et_no_sidebar"],"_et_pb_side_nav":["off"],"_wpml_media_duplicate":["1"],"_wpml_media_featured":["1"],"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":["53"],"_yoast_wpseo_focuskw":["Reforma Tribut\u00e1ria"],"_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":["Evento do Chapter MG reuniu empresas de minera\u00e7\u00e3o e do agroneg\u00f3cio para avaliar impactos nos neg\u00f3cios com o novo sistema em discuss\u00e3o no Congresso"],"_yoast_wpseo_linkdex":["56"],"_yoast_wpseo_content_score":["30"],"_yoast_wpseo_estimated-reading-time-minutes":["5"],"_et_builder_dynamic_assets_loading_attr_threshold":["2"],"_wpml_location_migration_done":["1"],"_thumbnail_id":["71711"],"_edit_lock":["1759020011:55"],"_edit_last":["55"]},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ccbc.org.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71723"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ccbc.org.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ccbc.org.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ccbc.org.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ccbc.org.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71723"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ccbc.org.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71723\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71732,"href":"https:\/\/www.ccbc.org.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71723\/revisions\/71732"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ccbc.org.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ccbc.org.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ccbc.org.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ccbc.org.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
According to the National Confederation of Industry (CNI), such an agreement could increase Brazil\u2019s share of world trade from 8% to 11%, with gains in sectors such as meat, sugar, coffee, fruits, ethanol, pulp, automobiles, and machinery. For Canada, the treaty would help reduce its dependence on the United States, which currently accounts for 76% of Canadian exports, while also granting preferential access to a market of more than 270 million consumers in Mercosur.<\/p>