Austria Votes to Block EU-Mercosur Trade Deal

Austria’s parliament has voted to block a recently signed free trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur, a Reuters report said. The parliamentary subcommittee vote, supported by nearly all Austrian political parties on the subcommittee, binds the Austrian government to veto the trade agreement with Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, which form the trading bloc. The EU declared in 2018 that a single veto would stop the deal from coming into force, Politico said. Austria is set to head to the polls again at the end of September, so the country could yet reverse course. French President Emmanuel Macron, however, has also pledged to block the Mercosur agreement over concerns about Amazon forest fires, Bloomberg has reported.