French prime minister Sébastien Lecornu recently asked Brussels to delay a decision on the Mercosur deal beyond a December 20th deadline. The Irish Government has said it will work with like-minded countries to address concerns about the deal’s impact on beef farmers.

On June 28, 1999, the European Union and Mercosur—the South American trade bloc consisting of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay—began negotiating the EU-Mercosur Trade Agreement. Twenty years later to the day, they reached an agreement in ...