Brazil’s President Lula says the country will look for other buyers after the US imposes a 25% tariff on some products, avoiding retaliation.
BRASILIA: Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Wednesday that the country will seek other markets in response to the new 25% tariff imposed by the United States on some products.
The levy took effect Wednesday, after Washington accused Latin America’s largest economy of unfair trade practices — accusations Brazil calls untrue and unfair.
“We’re not going to sit around crying over products we didn’t sell to them, because we’re going to look for other buyers,” leftist Lula said while announcing a new credit scheme to aid sectors affected by the surcharge.
Early on, Lula had threatened to impose a reciprocal tariff on the United States, but Brazil’s Vice President Geraldo Alckmin struck a different tone Tuesday and ruled out retaliation.
“We’re not going to walk away from the negotiating table. They’re the ones who don’t want to negotiate,” Lula said Wednesday.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly sought to use tariffs as leverage and to influence Latin American elections, and Brazil’s latest levies are becoming a major point of contention in its presidential election in October.
Lula will face right-wing senator Flavio Bolsonaro, son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, a Trump ally who is serving time for being convicted of attempting a coup.
Under Lula’s new plan, the government will provide about $3.7 billion in credit to affected companies to help them diversify markets.
Various products like beef, coffee and aircraft parts will be exempted from the levy, and roughly half of Brazil’s exports to the United States would remain excluded from the duty, estimates Valentina Sader of the Atlantic Council think tank.
The American Chamber of Commerce for Brazil recently warned that Washington’s measure affects more than $11 billion in exports, and vulnerable sectors include machinery, footwear, wood and plastics.
