Mercosur deal may take up to two years to ratify, Burke says

DCM Editorial Summary: This story has been independently rewritten and summarised for DCM readers to highlight key developments relevant to the region. Original reporting by Irish Times, click this post to read the original article.

Minister for Public Enterprise Peter Burke has conceded the EU-Mercosur trade deal, seen by many as a hedge against US tariffs, may take up to two years to ratify.

The bloc’s free trade pact with the Mercosur group of South American states has been referred by MEPs to the European Court of Justice (ECJ), delaying its ratification.

Speaking at an event on the challenges facing Irish exporters, hosted by consultancy PwC, Burke acknowledged the deal, which the Irish Government opposed, could be delayed for a significant period.

“Courts are very unpredictable, so it’s hard to know,” he said.

However he said European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen could invoke a clause through the European Council to provisionally apply the deal pending any legal challenge.

“That’s a decision you have to consider in relation to democratic supremacy of the parliament,” he said while noting the legal basis for the deal would still have to be ratified by the ECJ.

The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (Ceta) between the EU and Canada was implemented provisionally in 2017 pending a legal challenge.

The EU has signed two major trade deals in as many months, deals that had been in seemingly intractable negotiations for decades.

The fast-tracking of these agreements is seen by many as a response to US president Donald Trump’s aggressive trade stance.

On the Government’s rejection of the deal at EU level, Burke said: “We were trying to get significant safeguards (relating to food safety) on behalf of the Irish Government which unfortunately did not meet the threshold of government”.

In terms of the impact of tariffs on trade and investment to date, Burke said the Irish economy had proved “resilient”, highlighting the record level investments reported by the IDA in 2025.

Of particular importance to Ireland, he said, was the outcome of the US’s section 232 investigations on semiconductors and pharmaceuticals.

“Both of those are critically important. Those are the ones that involve high-value exports from Ireland’s perspective, and those are ones that would be very challenging if they went wrong,” he said.

Burke told the event that the current trading environment was extremely volatile with the EU-US space “changing almost on a weekly basis”.

“One critical thing about trade is, despite the uncertainty, despite the noise, despite the threats, trade continues to flow,” he said, noting about €4.5 billion of goods and services flows back and forth across the Atlantic every day.

“That’s a very important operational reality that exists on the ground,” he said.

Burke said the greatest hedge for the Irish economy in the current environment was trade diversification, highlighting that there were 41 EU trade treaties covering 72 third party countries providing exporters here with “opportunity”.

He said the economy here had become too reliant on the US market while noting the US would remain Ireland’s most valuable market.

“But we also have to look at other opportunities,” he said, while conceding the multilateral trade system was under attack.

[ EU agriculture commissioner leaves door open for provisional Mercosur dealOpens in new window ]