The EU-Mercosur interim Trade Agreement is already producing results. Since its provisional application began on May 1, 2026, tariffs on European internal-combustion-engine car exports to Mercosur have fallen from 35% to 17.5%. Mercosur will eventually eliminate duties on the great majority of goods imported from the EU. But gaining market access and succeeding in a market are two different things. Maintaining these gains and turning them into lasting commercial relationships will require effective strategic communications and public relations.

European companies now have access to a large consumer market with strong demand for their products and services. To succeed, they must accurately read the South American business environment and identify not only commercial opportunities but also the stakeholders who influence how companies are perceived and allowed to operate. Market access in South America often depends on relationships with regulators, policymakers, the media and wider society as well as on commercial competitiveness. A robust commercial plan therefore requires an equally strong communications plan.

For many European companies, the natural place to start is Brazil, by far Mercosur's largest market. It accounts for over 70% of Mercosur's nominal GDP, more than 200 million of its 270 million consumers, and approximately €90 billion in goods traded with the EU, representing the majority of commerce between the two blocs.

Cultural proximity

Cultural proximity offers advantages beyond trade statistics. Brazil's Portuguese language and strong ties to Portugal, along with significant Italian, German, Spanish, French, and Eastern European communities, can provide European companies with useful cultural reference points as they establish relationships in the market.

Brazil's attractiveness also extends to its digital infrastructure. It has become Latin America's principal data-centre market and a focal point for investment in AI infrastructure. For communicators, this matters because European companies entering Brazil are increasingly operating not simply in a large consumer market, but in a sophisticated and highly connected information environment.

Understanding the market is where public relations and strategic communications begin to add value to companies that want to participate in the EU-Mercosur opportunity. The next key communications step is navigating the decision-making environment. In Brazil, regulatory issues are rarely decided by technical experts or institutions alone. They pass through Congress, regulatory agencies, the public prosecutor's office, higher courts, the press, and social media, and they can change substantially along the way.

Understanding how to operate

In Mercosur, communications and public affairs are not peripheral functions; they are part of the infrastructure required to operate successfully. Three points are fundamental to understanding this.

First, relationships must be built with real interlocutors, not with flow charts. Understanding who decides, who influences, and who can veto is as important as understanding the market itself.

Second, a verifiable contribution narrative about jobs, local supply chains, technology transfer, and environmental and social standards must be built before the first crisis, not during it. Companies need to be able to demonstrate what their presence contributes to the societies in which they operate, rather than attempting to construct that argument after their motives or practices have been challenged.

Third, a regular presence in public debate must be maintained, because the space a company does not occupy will often be filled by others, potentially on terms the company did not choose.

Evolving rules

There is another reason strategic communication is not optional: the rules and political environment surrounding EU-Mercosur trade are still evolving. In February 2026, the European Parliament approved a safeguard mechanism allowing tariff preferences on sensitive agricultural imports to be temporarily suspended where increased imports cause serious harm to European producers. Farm organisations across the EU also continue to campaign against the deal. European companies operating in Mercosur are therefore exposed to a political dispute taking place in Brussels, not only in Brasília.

At the same time, the EU Deforestation Regulation becomes applicable to large and medium-sized operators in December 2026, requiring geolocation data and due diligence for beef, soy, coffee, timber and other commodities entering the European market.

For European buyers, this turns supplier relationships into reputational exposure: a sustainability claim made in São Paulo may ultimately be tested by a journalist, an NGO or a regulator in Berlin. Companies that treat compliance as a legal exercise only will document it. Companies that treat it also as a communications discipline will be prepared to explain and defend it – to their own consumers, to European legislators and to Brazilian partners who may view European due-diligence demands with scepticism.

The distinction matters. Compliance can establish that a company has followed the rules; communications helps stakeholders understand why its conduct deserves trust. The companies that recognise both dimensions will be better placed to protect their licence to operate. Those that do not may find themselves repeatedly defending it.

The EU-Mercosur agreement can lower tariffs and open markets, but it cannot create trust, legitimacy or a licence to operate. Those have to be built. For European companies entering Mercosur, strategic communications should therefore be treated not merely as support for the commercial strategy, but as part of the commercial strategy itself.