Brazil must once again import retreaded tires from Europe or close its market to everyone, including its partners in Mercosur (South America's trade bloc), according to a decision by the World Trade Organization. The deadline for complying with the ruling is Jan. 17, but the Brazilian government will request “some days of extension, due to the end of the year holidays,” a source at the Foreign Ministry's press office told Tierramérica.

Brazil banned imports of used tires in the 1990s, stating the environmental and health risks associated with the shorter life-span of the re-treaded tires, which turns into water-collecting waste that favors the proliferation of dengue mosquitoes, for example.

But Brazil continued to import the tires from Paraguay and Uruguay, through a decision of Mercosur's Arbitration Tribunal, and from other countries through legal rulings obtained by companies, which ultimately led the European Union to file a complaint of trade discrimination with the WTO.