Lowering the steaks: a Mercosur deal at last

降低牛肉价格:最后达成Mercosur协议

Economist Podcasts

2026-01-13

23 分钟
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From Argentinian beef to German cars, a freshly inked deal between the EU and a bloc of South American countries should ease trade barriers—and is a sign of global trade’s topsy-turvy time. Foreigner-bashing is politically fashionable in Japan, but focuses on the wrong problems. And a look at Parkrun, a free weekly event that has unwittingly made many Britons healthier. Get a world of insights by subscribing to Economist Podcasts+. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  • The Economist Hello and welcome to The Intelligence from The Economist.

  • I'm your host, Jason Palmer.

  • Every weekday, we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

  • In Japan, it's become politically expedient to do a little bit of foreigner bashing.

  • But perhaps more than most countries, Japan needs its gaijin.

  • Our correspondent unpicks the rhetoric from what really matters for the country.

  • And every Saturday morning across Britain,

  • thousands upon thousands of people get up early and head to the park for a run,

  • appropriately called park run.

  • We look into how one small get-together turned into a national public health success story.

  • First up, though.

  • At daybreak in Paris this morning, a serious traffic jam started to develop.

  • 350 or so tractors rumbling toward the Arc de Triomphe.

  • The traffic jam is intentional, and it isn't the first.

  • On Monday, producers and tractors gummed up Lugo in Spain.

  • On Sunday, it was Tarragona.

  • The roots of this wheeled protest go back, way back, to the last millennium, in fact.

  • In 1999, talks first began on a trade deal between Mercasur,

  • a block of South American countries, and the European Union.

  • Long story short, they didn't get anywhere for a really long time.