French farmers gathered in their tractors in a blockade around the National Assembly in Paris to protest against the Mercosur trade deal between the European Union and several South American nations.
Around 350 tractors rolled into Paris on Tuesday morning demanding “concrete action” from their national government against the impending Mercosur trade deal with Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay, which is set to be signed by EU chief Ursula von der Leyen in Asunción on Saturday.
The agreement, which has been in negotiations for over two decades, has seen near universal opposition in France, with parties across the political spectrum opposing the deal over concerns on its impact to the nation’s critical agriculture industry.
Opponents in France warn that the Mercosur trade deal would see Europe flooded with cheap meat and produce from countries like Argentina and Brazil where the cost of doing business is significantly lower, due to the cost of labour, land, and other goods. Thus, there have been concerns raised from European farmers in nations like France and Italy that they will be unable to compete with the cheap foreign imports.
Yet, France was unable to convince enough other fellow EU member states last week to band together to block the deal from being ratified.
Speaking to the Le Figaro newspaper outside of the National Assembly in Paris, Thomas, a 25-year-old farmer said that he joined the protest to “denounce the distortions of competition in Europe.”
His fellow farmer Hector added: “It’s difficult to make a decent living as a farmer these days, especially in free markets… Rather than handing out checks, which are often futile and useless, we need to review the taxation of agricultural businesses.”
This photograph shows tractors parked in front of the National Assembly to demand “concrete and immediate action” from the government, which is struggling to deal with the anger of farmers in Paris on January 13, 2026. Called by the French union National Federation of Agricultural Holders’ Unions (FNSEA) and “Jeunes Agriculteurs” union and a few days before the signing of the EU-Mercosur agreement, a convoy of farmers entered the capital early in the morning. (Photo by Martin LELIEVRE / AFP via Getty Images)
Even prior to the Mercosur deal, farmers in France and indeed throughout Europe have been struggling under the weight of heavy regulations and taxes, many of which are imposed upon them by Brussels as a part of the green new deal agenda, sparking previous large-scale tractor protests in Belgium, France, and the Netherlands, among others.
Economic pressures on French farmers have been particularly acute in recent years, with the country’s agricultural trade surplus falling from €4.5 billion ($5.25bn) in 2024 to just €125 million ($146mn) in October. This came on top of a decade of declines, falling from a surplus of €10.5 billion ($12.25) in 2015.
The protest outside of the French parliament building on Tuesday drew the support of several high-profile politicians, including the vice president of the National Assembly and MP for Marine Le Pen’s National Rally, Sébastien Chenu, who told farmers that his populist party is “quite aligned with your demands.”
Le Pen family scion Marion Maréchal also joined the farmers, and called for the French President Emmanuel Macron to withhold its annual financial contribution to the European Union budget in order to force Brussels to walk away from the Mercosur trade deal.
However, farmers expressed doubt that Paris is willing or able to do anything to stop the agreement. The President of the National Federation of Farmers’ Unions, Arnaud Rousseau, said that his supporters will turn their attention to the European Parliament in Strasbourg next.
“We’re going to Strasbourg on the 20th, because we understand that Mercosur will no longer be decided in France but within the European institutions,” the union boss said.
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