The Minister of Development, Industry, Trade and Services, Márcio Elias Rosa. Photo Credit: Júlio César Silva/MDIC

NNA News - Brazil and the United States have agreed to resume technical negotiations on trade after senior officials met to discuss US tariffs on Brazilian products, with Brasília pressing for a broader agreement that would remove the additional duties. Report compiled by Brasil 247. 

Brazilian Development, Industry, Foreign Trade and Services Minister Márcio Elias Rosa and Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira held a virtual meeting on Monday with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer following a recent telephone conversation between Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and US President Donald Trump.

Brazil’s government said the meeting was intended to advance negotiations over two US decisions imposing additional tariffs on Brazilian goods under Section 301 of the US Trade Act of 1974. The Brazilian side reiterated that it remained open to dialogue while rejecting the unilateral measures. “The meeting was to resume dialogue, to resume negotiations. Obviously, we did not advance on any point of negotiation regarding sectors, offers or content,” Elias Rosa told journalists after the talks.

Brazil maintains that the tariffs are unjustified and has rejected the arguments used by Washington to justify the measures. The US Trade Representative’s office has said its Section 301 investigation found Brazilian measures involving digital trade and electronic payment services, tariffs, intellectual property, ethanol market access and illegal deforestation to be unreasonable and harmful to US commerce.

Elias Rosa said Brazil presented its position on environmental issues during the meeting, including what he described as reductions in illegal deforestation. “We also talked about Pix. Pix is a Brazilian asset. More than 80 percent of Brazilians use it. There is no possibility of negotiating the operation of Pix. This was emphasised,” he said.

The minister's comments underline one of Brasília's key positions in the negotiations: the country's instant payment system will not be treated as a subject for concessions. Brazil also reiterated its arguments under Section 301 and objected to what it considers discriminatory treatment. “Our Minister Mauro Vieira reiterated all the points under Section 301 so that it could be definitively clarified that the tariffs are undue, based on those arguments,” Elias Rosa said.

The Brazilian government said the talks were facilitated by the direct communication between Lula and Trump. Brasília wants negotiations to result in a comprehensive agreement capable of removing the additional tariffs and restoring what it considers a balanced trading relationship. “The meeting was only possible thanks to the direct conversation between President Lula and President Trump. We made clear, and I myself reiterated, President Lula’s purpose that we should definitively work toward an agreement, as comprehensive as possible, that would remove these undue and unfair tariffs,” Elias Rosa said.

According to the minister, the US side indicated that Trump supported efforts to reach an agreement. “On the other hand, the USTR reported that President Trump recommends that we work toward an agreement. He mentioned that he had followed President Lula’s phone call and said that he would also work so that we could reach a consensus or an agreement,” he said.

The latest talks come against a backdrop of additional US tariffs that can reach 37.5 per cent on some Brazilian exports. Brazil's Ministry of Development, Industry, Foreign Trade and Services said in July that 16.5 per cent of Brazilian exports to the US were subject to both Section 301 measures, resulting in the combined 37.5 per cent additional tariff.

Elias Rosa said the higher tariff had changed the basis on which negotiations were taking place. “There was a positive consensus. We both recognised that we are facing a new scenario, new bases on which to work toward this agreement,” he said. He argued that the tariff structure had created a greater imbalance in favour of the United States and said Brazilian concessions would need to form part of a mutually beneficial arrangement. “There is a political commitment that was reiterated by both the US government and the Brazilian government. On our side, the purpose of reaching an agreement was reiterated, and there is recognition that we are facing a new scenario, new bases, and that from now on we will discuss how to restore this trade relationship,” he said.

Brazil's government confirmed that the two sides agreed to hold further technical meetings in the coming weeks, followed by another ministerial-level meeting. The discussions may take place virtually or in person. Elias Rosa said Brazil still regarded the United States as an important trading partner and wanted to restore the relationship, but insisted that any future agreement would have to be mutually beneficial. “I mentioned to them that it is not in Brazil’s interest for the United States to retreat from our export agenda. On the contrary, over two centuries they have been Brazil’s main trading partner, and we want that to happen again,” he said.

He added that Brazil would not return to the terms of an earlier proposal that it had rejected. “We will not follow the line of what came before, because it was a very generic agreement proposal, which Brazil has already rejected, already dismissed,” Elias Rosa said. The Brazilian government said it would continue pursuing an agreement based on dialogue, national sovereignty and mutually beneficial trade.