The European Union is renewing internal negotiations over a free trade agreement with five South American nations neighboring Venezuela a week after the United States' audacious raid there to detain President Nicolás Maduro.
Ministers of Agriculture from across the 27 European Union nations met in Brussels on Wednesday in part to discuss protecting farmers while also reaping the economic and geopolitical benefits of a free trade deal with the Mercosur nations of Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay. The EU's trade negotiator Maroš Šefčovič said after the meeting that while the deal would increase EU agrifood exports by up to 50%.
