Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva expressed his “convinced” Monday that the United States and Brazil can reach “a definitive solution” on the trade front after meeting with White House President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Malaysia.
“I had a good impression at the meeting yesterday that there will soon be no more problems between the United States and Brazil,” Lula said at a press conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, according to Agencia Brasil. “I am convinced that, in a few days, we will have a definitive solution,” he emphasized after a conversation in which they agreed to begin negotiations for a bilateral trade agreement, while maintaining the 50 percent tariffs imposed by Washington on Brazilian imports.
The Brazilian president emphasized that, during his conversation, he reinforced the argument that the United States has a trade surplus with Brazil, meaning there is no need to tax Brazilian products. He also claimed to have given Trump a document outlining the issues he intends to address in the negotiations between the two countries.
“I am not demanding anything unfair for Brazil, and I have the absolute truth on my side: the United States does not have a trade deficit with Brazil, which explains the famous tariffs imposed on the world, and the United States would only tax countries with which it had a trade deficit,” he stated.
For his part, Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira, also present at the appearance, announced “a schedule of meetings between the negotiating teams to address the negotiations between the two countries, with special attention to the sectors most affected by the tariffs,” with sessions to take place “in the coming weeks.”
For his part, the executive secretary of the Ministry of Industry, Márcio Elias Rosa, emphasized the withdrawal of the tariffs, arguing that “the political aspects that might have existed are no longer on the table; something that should never have been there is no longer on the table.” “Thanks to this stance, today we are discussing a trade agreement, and nothing more than trade issues,” he celebrated.
At the end of July, the United States announced the implementation of an additional 40% tariff on imported Brazilian products, up to a total rate of 50%, to “address the recent policies” of Lula’s government. Specifically, the measure was imposed in retaliation for the “politically motivated” prosecution of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who was sentenced to 27 years in prison for his role in the coup against Lula.
