Mercosur summit in Paraguay gathers presidents of Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia and others

Presidents of the six founding members of Mercosur—Argentina's Javier Milei, Brazil's Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Paraguay's host Santiago Peña, Uruguay's Yamandú Orsi, plus leaders of Bolivia (Rodrigo Paz), Ecuador (Daniel Noboa) and Chile (José Antonio Kast)—convened in Luque near Asunción on Monday and Tuesday for the bloc's summit. The meeting also hosted foreign ministers from Colombia, Chile and Panama, and invited special guests from the United Arab Emirates, Trinidad and Tobago, Germany and Uzbekistan, alongside a delegation of thirty business representatives from Germany, the UAE and Chile exploring investment opportunities in Paraguay.

The summit took place against a backdrop of regional trade and political tensions. Argentina's push to eliminate tariffs on 1,600 U.S. products and its bid to join the Trans‑Pacific Partnership raised concerns in Brazil, while Buenos Aires maintained a firm veto on Venezuela's potential readmission. Discussions also covered the Mercosur‑EU trade pact and the start of formal negotiations with Japan. The gathering highlighted divergent diplomatic stances within the South American bloc as leaders sought to balance economic integration with domestic political pressures.