Libertarian vs Authoritarian: While the European Union was frantically negotiating a trade deal with Mr. Trump last month, the bloc more or less killed a free-trade agreement with a clutch of South American countries. The EU-Mercosur agreement, in the works for years, would expand trade between the bloc and Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. Mercosur countries exported to the EU goods worth €56 billion in 2024, while EU exports to Mercosur totalled €55.2 billion, according to the European Commission. This deal should be a free-trade lay-up. The South American countries export primarily raw materials to Europe, while Europe exports manufactured goods to the Mercosur economies—the kind of comparative advantage that Adam Smith had in mind. It was negotiated to cater to Europe’s neuroses on matters such as precautionary food-safety rules and climate regulations. That’s why it took so many years to finalize