For decades, the South American market was present in the discourse but distant in the execution. Tariffs, regulatory barriers, legal uncertainty, and lack of predictability made expansion complex, slow, and risky. That cycle is now closing.
The new deal profoundly changes this game! For Portuguese companies, Mercosur is no longer just an “interesting market” and has become a true natural extension of their growth strategy.
We are talking about an economic area with more than 260 million inhabitants, a growing middle class, a strong need for investment in infrastructure, energy, mobility, technology, health, housing and specialised services. A market with a huge appetite for European solutions, particularly in areas where Portugal has built solid know-how over the last few decades.
Sectors such as renewable energy, electricity grids, hydrogen, water management, construction, engineering, information technology, agribusiness, logistics, private health, education and tourism are now finding fertile ground for expansion.
And Portugal leaves with clear advantages, because it has highly internationalised medium-sized companies, experience in complex markets, the ability to adapt culturally and a growing reputation for quality, reliability and execution. Unlike large multinational groups, many Portuguese companies know how to operate efficiently in challenging environments, adjust business models and build long-term relationships.
Mercosur values exactly that.
In addition, there is a factor that is increasingly determinant: trust. Portuguese companies do not arrive as distant actors. They arrive with cultural, historical and human proximity, especially in Brazil, but also with a growing presence in markets such as Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.
The agreement now removes the biggest structural obstacle: the cost of entry. Due to the elimination of a large part of the tariffs and the harmonisation of rules, what was previously only strategically desirable becomes financially viable. Projects that were on paper are now economically sustainable. Partnerships become easier to structure. Value chains can be built between the two sides of the Atlantic much more efficiently.
There is also a less visible, but perhaps more powerful opportunity: The positioning of Portuguese Companies in this market!
Portuguese companies that move early to Mercosur are not only conquering the market. They are positioning themselves as natural bridges between Europe and South America, creating binational platforms for production, distribution and innovation.
This is not just exports. It is ecosystem construction, something that we have been having a lot of experience in Portugal and abroad.
In an increasingly fragmented world, where trade is organised by strategic blocs and alliances, the EU-Mercosur axis could become one of the most relevant economic areas of the next decade. And Portugal has all the conditions to be one of its main connecting nodes.
Portuguese companies that understand this structural change and act now will be building their next phase of growth on a much broader, more resilient and more global basis.
The agreement is not the end of a negotiation. It is the beginning of a historic opportunity.