The signing comes as Latin America is still reeling from Trump's ousting and capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro The South American trade bloc Mercosur and the European Union will sign on Saturday a deal 25 years in the making to create one of the world's largest free trade areas at a time of growing protectionism and volatility.

The European Parliament is considering putting on hold the European Union's implementation of the trade deal struck with the United States in protest over threats by U.S. President Donald Trump to seize Greenland.

The trans-Atlantic trade deal — lifting tariffs on products ranging from Argentine steaks and Brazilian copper to German cars and Italian wine — still has to be ratified by the European Parliament.

Trump says tariffs increase the amount of tax raised by the government, encourage consumers to buy more American-made goods and boost investment in the US. He wants to reduce the US trade deficit - the gap between the value of goods it buys from other countries and those it sells to them.

A mega trade deal clinched between the European Union and South America’s biggest economies after a quarter-century of talks may signal the limits of the Trump administration’s pressure tactics in the region,