Tariff: Brazil should receive a proposal from the US between this week and next, says minister

The Minister of Development, Industry, Commerce and Services (MDIC), Márcio Elias Rosa, stated that Brazil should receive between this week and the beginning of next an offer for a possible agreement from the United States on tariffs.

The document should provide suggestions for commercial concessions, such as tariff reductions in certain sectors, for example.

"We had a meeting in the United States on September 30, and they were supposed to forward a term of reference, which is the name we use for a draft of what could be a future agreement, in three or four weeks. This is the fourth week. So, I imagine that Brazil should receive this document between this week and next," the minister told journalists after participating in a seminar on critical and strategic minerals in the Chamber of Deputies.

Elias Rosa explained that, in commercial negotiations of this type, one of the parties presents an initial proposal, to which the other responds with their offers and counter-proposals.

"When we negotiate an agreement of this nature, one party presents a proposal and we make our offers. They must send us a document indicating, basically, which sectors they would like to obtain tariff reductions in, for example, and we will respond shortly. But there has not yet been any anticipation regarding the merits of the proposal", declared Elias.

According to Elias Rosa, the American government is working on drafting the text. "The information I have is that they are preparing the document to forward to us. Regardless of the political discussion, we held informal conversations during this period, and they are in fact working on it," he stated.

"They make a proposal for the sectors that interest them, and we will respond according to what suits Brazil", he added.

When asked whether the mid-term elections in the United States, the so-called mditerms, could have any influence on the negotiation over tariffs, the minister was categorical: "No, nothing. It changes absolutely nothing."

"Brazil continues its path, its work, we have a lot of work to do, and it is the American people who define the elections", he added.

Tariff

Brazil was the target of rounds of tariffs announced by the US government:

25%: due to the White House's understanding that Brazil adopts unfair practices in the economy in relation to American businesspeople in areas such as PIX, ethanol and intellectual property;

of 12.5%: given the US understanding that dozens of countries, including Brazil, failed to prevent the import of goods from countries where there is forced labor.

During negotiations to try to avoid tariffs, representatives of the Brazilian government said that the Americans disregarded the technical arguments, which led Brazil to consider that the measures had a political, not commercial, nature.

In this context, Brazil opened a request for consultations at the World Trade Organization (WTO), alleging that by acting in this way the USA treats Brazil differently from other trading partners.

In response, the United States informed the WTO that they were available to Brazil to discuss the issue, but according to Brazilian diplomats, they have not yet indicated any sign of reversing the tariff rate.

In September, representatives of presidents Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) and Donald Trump met in Geneva, at the WTO headquarters, to negotiate.

With this, a period of 60 days was opened for the two countries to reach a consensus. If there is no agreement within the deadline, one of the parties can open a panel, that is, request that the issue be judged by the WTO.

The Chinese government formally asked the WTO to participate in the process, but the US spoke out against opening space for the Chinese.