Brazil threatens to abandon Mercosur-EU deal as Italy, France seek delay

SAO ‌PAULO, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Brazilian President Luiz ‍Inacio ‌Lula da Silva said on Wednesday ⁠that if the ‌trade agreement between the European Union and the South American trade bloc Mercosur ⁠is not finalized this month, Brazil will no ​longer sign off on the ‌deal.

Italy and France ⁠earlier in the day said they were not ready to back the ​agreement, dealing it a blow as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had been expected to ​fly ‍to Brazil at ​the end of this week to sign the accord.

"If we don't do it now, Brazil won't make this deal anymore as long as I'm ⁠president," Lula told a cabinet meeting. "If they say no, ​we will be tough with them from now on. We gave in to everything that diplomacy ‌could possibly concede."

(Reporting by Gabriel Araujo and Eduardo Simoes; Writing by Isabel Teles)