French farmers are mobilizing for widespread protests on Monday targeting the EU-Mercosur trade agreement. Backed by their government, they argue the deal threatens their livelihoods by allowing a surge of South American agricultural imports produced under less stringent environmental standards.

Protests are planned nationwide, including gatherings at prefectures and traffic circles. So far, protests have been small. One group blocked a highway southwest of Paris on Sunday night with tractors. Witnesses at Velizy-Villacoublay said that some 20 tractors stationed by placard-holding farmers overnight on the N118 freeway artery toward Paris had left by late Monday morning.

The European Union and the Mercosur trade bloc, composed of Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia, reached an initial agreement in 2019, but negotiations stumbled due to opposition from farmers and some European governments, particularly France.