The EU has signed trade agreements with Mercosur and Vietnam. Mercosur is a bloc comprising Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. The agreement is expected to give European companies an important head start in a market with an enormous economic potential. It will remove the majority of tariffs on EU exports to the countries—which will spell an opportunity for textiles, too. For clothing and footwear, the agreement will see 35 per cent tariffs eliminated, and the 26 per cent tariff on knitted fabrics will also be removed. This will help boost exports of EU products that have so far been facing high and sometimes prohibitive tariffs. Through this trade pact, Mercosur countries have decided to open up their markets to the EU. This is the largest trade agreement the EU has ever concluded.

The free trade agreement with Vietnam is the most ambitious free trade deal between the EU and an emerging economy to date. The deal is set to strengthen trade relations between the EU, and not just Vietnam, but the entire Asean region, which also comprises Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei Darussalam, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, and Cambodia. The EU is aiming at closer trade and investment relations between the two regions.