Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what recent discussions her Department has had with representatives of the Brazilian Government on a bilateral trade deal with that country.

The UK Government places great value on Brazil as an important trading partner. At the end of Q3 2019, UK-Brazil trade was up 11.2%, or £656m, from the four quarters to the end of Q3 2018. We seek to deepen our trading relationship through dialogues such as the Joint Economic and Trade Committee and the Economic and Financial Dialogue. Brazil, along with Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina, is part of the Mercosur trading bloc. The EU and Mercosur reached political agreement on a Free Trade Agreement last June. I visited Brazil in August 2019, and we look forward to further discussions with Mercosur partners the best way forward for UK-Mercosur trade relations.