When Olaf Scholz returns to Germany from the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Wednesday, the crisis-ridden chancellor could be returning with something truly historic: a free-trade agreement between the European Union and the Mercosur states of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. That is, if he can seal the deal after decades of negotiations.

"This free-trade agreement would be liberating for the German economy. It's almost impossible to imagine a more difficult situation geopolitically, we have to use this opportunity," said Volker Treier, the foreign policy leader of the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

"Right now the window is open — you can't negotiate for 25 years, not have a deal, and still believe you can just keep stretching it out like chewing gum. If not now, when?"

Treier spoke with DW about a recent business survey from the Association of European Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Brussels. The result, he said, was "pretty dismal."

Faced with looming US protectionism under the incoming Trump administration, Treier said the EU-Mercosur agreement would........

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