EU Delays Free-Trade Deal in Face of Farmers' Protests

The European Union is delaying a massive free-trade deal with South American countries after fiery protests by farmers and last-minute opposition by France and Italy threatened to derail the pact, seen by its backers as an important geopolitical move for both continents. Top EU officials had hoped to sign the EU-Mercosur deal in Brazil this weekend, after 26 years of negotiations. Instead, European Commission chief spokesperson Paula Pinho confirmed Thursday that the signing had been put off until January, the AP reports. "We are fighting to defend our jobs," said Armand Chevron, a 23-year-old French farmer who was protesting.

Experts say the delay could dent the EU's negotiating credibility globally as it seeks to forge new trade ties amid commercial tensions with the US and China. Once ratified, the trade deal would cover a market of 780 million people and a quarter of the globe's gross domestic product, and progressively remove duties on almost all goods traded between the two blocs. French farmers unions, who fear the deal would undercut their livelihoods, welcomed the postponement. France had led opposition to the deal between the EU and the five active Mercosur countries—Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia. Italy raised new reservations Wednesday.

The decision came hours after farmers in tractors blocked roads and set off fireworks in Brussels to protest the trade deal, prompting police to respond with tear gas and water cannons. The farmers brought potatoes and eggs to throw and waged a furious back-and-forth with police. Protesters burned tires and a faux wooden coffin bearing the word "Agriculture." Their fire unleashed a black cloud that swirled with white tear gas. The European Parliament evacuated some staff due to damage caused by protesters. Farmers came from as far away as Spain and Poland. Hundreds of them arrived on tractors, which they parked to block roads around the key institutions of the EU. The Mercosur deal would be "bad for farmers, bad for consumers, bad for citizens and bad for Europe," said a protester who raises cattle and grains in the Belgian city of Waterloo.