Finland will propose a ban on Brazilian beef imports to protest over Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro's response to massive Amazon fires, the country's finance minister said on Friday.

French President Emmanuel Macron is leading international pressure on Bolsonaro over the Amazon rainforest fires, threatening to block a major trade deal with the EU.

Finland's Finance Minister Mika Lintila condemned the destruction of rainforests and proposed "the EU and Finland urgently look into the option of banning the import of Brazilian beef".

Finland currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Council.

"Now we need effective action from the EU... I am ready to raise the issue with my EU Finance Minister colleagues who will be coming to Helsinki in September, if there is no progress before then," Lintila said.

The fires in the world's largest rainforest have sparked protests around the planet and ignited a war of words between Bolsonaro and Macron, who has described the wildfires as an "international crisis". </s> The European Union piled pressure on Friday on Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro over fires raging in the Amazon basin, with Ireland and France saying they could block a trade deal and Finland urging a ban on Brazilian beef imports.

Bolsonaro has rejected what he calls foreign interference in domestic affairs in Brazil, where vast tracts of the Amazon rainforest are ablaze in what is known as the burning season.

Environmentalists have blamed deforestation for an increase in fires and accuse the right-wing president of relaxing protection of a vast carbon trap and climate driver that is crucial to combating global climate change.

French President Emmanuel Macron’s office said Bolsonaro had been lying when he played down concerns about climate change at the G20 summit in Japan in June and that, in this light, France would oppose the farming deal struck between the EU and the Mercosur countries: Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said Dublin would vote against the free trade deal unless Brazil acted to protect the rainforest.

Varadkar said he was very concerned at the record levels of rainforest destruction, and that the Irish government would closely monitor Brazil’s environmental actions in the two years until the Mercosur deal was ratified.

“There is no way that Ireland will vote for the EU-Mercosur Free Trade Agreement if Brazil does not honour its environmental commitments,” he said in a statement.

Ireland would need other EU states to help form a blocking minority if it wants to kill the deal, reached in June after 20 years of negotiations.

But the Irish government is under pressure to defend its beef farmers, already suffering from Britain’s looming EU exit and low prices, by seeking to ensure Mercosur countries do not flood the market with cheaper beef.

Finland, which currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency, suggested a ban on Brazilian beef imports.

Prime Minister Antti Rinne said the fires were “a threat to our whole planet, not just to Brazil or South America”.

“We must find out whether the Europeans have something to offer Brazil to help prevent this kind of fires in the future,” he added.

Leaders of the world’s most advanced economies are also expected to discuss the matter when they meet for the G7 summit in France this weekend.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s office said he would use the gathering to call for international action to protect the world’s rainforests.
Finland, current chair of the European Union, writes to the body's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, urging the use of the EU's "full toolkit" including foreign and trade policy to counter the use of deliberate fires as a means of deforestation in Brazil.