Brazil expects the United States to send an initial draft of a trade agreement by early next week, listing sectors where it is seeking lower tariffs in the Brazilian market, Industry and Trade Minister Márcio Elias Rosa said on Tuesday. The commitment was made at the countries’ last in-person meeting on the issue in late September, he said.
Elias Rosa said the United States was working on the document and that the two sides had held informal discussions since their meeting. He said Brazil does not yet know which sectors Washington will request. Once it receives the proposal, Brazil plans to respond with a counterproposal setting out its own areas of interest.
Two rounds of US tariffs on Brazilian goods have been in force since July. One applies a 25% rate over alleged unfair trade practices, while another adds 12.5% over alleged failures to combat imports of goods made with forced labor.
The National Confederation of Industry estimates that the two measures together affect 3,985 products, representing $10.8 billion in Brazilian exports to the United States.
Earlier this year, US officials sounded out Brazil about a trade agreement along the lines of a recently concluded US-Argentina deal. Aides to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva considered that proposal unacceptable.
Sources: Folha Mercado.