Beijing files document with the body, saying it “has a substantial commercial interest” in Brazilian tariff consultations
WTO headquarters in Geneva — Photo: Andreas Bastian/DPA/AP Images
The U.S. responded on Monday (10) to Brazil’s request for consultations at the World Trade Organization (WTO) to discuss the two tariffs imposed on Brazilian products imported by the country. In a document sent to the body, the U.S. stated that it “accepts Brazil’s request to initiate consultations” and that its representatives are “available to talk with representatives of your mission on a date convenient to both parties for holding the consultations.”
Also on Monday, China requested to take part in the tariff discussion between the U.S. and Brazil, stating that it “has a substantial commercial interest in these consultations.”
In the document, the country says the measures could also affect Chinese exports, since the discussions could affect the competitive conditions for its products in the U.S. market.
“China therefore respectfully requests that it be allowed to participate in the consultations in this dispute,” reads an excerpt from another document linked to the discussion.
The U.S. statement submitted on Monday responds to the complaint filed by Brazil with the WTO, formalized at the end of last month by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs through Brazil’s Permanent Mission to the WTO, in Geneva.
On July 27, Brazil stated that the measures adopted by the U.S. violated commitments made by the country under the multilateral trading system and represent an attempt to impose sanctions unilaterally.
The initiative challenges the two surtaxes announced last month by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), both based on Section 301 of U.S. trade law: the first, an additional 25% tariff related to the investigation into Brazilian trade practices.
The second is the 12.5% tariff linked to the inquiry into Brazil’s alleged failures to curb the exports of products made with forced labor. Combined, the measures raise taxation on a portion of Brazilian products exported to the U.S. market.
In the statement sent to the WTO, Brazil argues that Washington disregarded the most-favored-nation principle, one of the pillars of international trade, by applying specific tariffs against Brazilian products without extending the same treatment to other members of the organization.
It also contends that the U.S. began charging tariffs above the limits bound with the WTO. Another point of the complaint is the allegation that the U.S. resorted to unilateral measures to respond to alleged trade violations, instead of using the dispute settlement mechanism provided for by the organization itself.
“The U.S. is acting inconsistently with Article 23.1 of the Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes (DSU) by seeking to redress alleged violations of obligations, or other nullification or impairment of benefits under the covered agreements, or impediments to the attainment of the objectives of those agreements, through unilateral determinations and the imposition of tariffs, rather than having recourse to and abiding by the rules and procedures set out in the DSU,” reads an excerpt from the statement.
The document also recounts the history of the trade dispute between the two countries. Brazil notes that, since February 2025, the U.S. has been adopting successive additional tariffs against trading partners under various justifications.
Scenario reduces and increases the cost of resources available for the capital market
Roberto Troster, coordinator of Cefeb and the study’s author, says the figures are a warning sign because they lead to a vicious dynamic — Photo: Rogerio Vieira/Valor
Public debt remains on the rise and crossed an important threshold this year: reaching 77.2% of GDP in April, it surpassed the share of private-sector debt, which includes households and companies, at 75.7% in the same month, according to a report by the Center for Studies on the Financing of Brazilian Companies (Cefeb) at the Institute for Economic Research Foundation (Fipe).
The development revealed a classic phenomenon in macroeconomics, “crowding out,” or the displacement effect, in which the public sector absorbs an increasingly larger share of available savings and financial-market resources to roll over its liabilities. Because the government is the lowest-risk borrower, it “pushes” the private sector out of capital markets and makes credit for productive investment more expensive.
Roberto Troster, coordinator of Cefeb and the study’s author, says the figures are a warning sign because they lead to a vicious dynamic. “The government demands more resources, and this raises the risk premium and interest rates for those taking out financing,” he says.
The study provides an X-ray of the mechanism through which monetary policy is transmitted to credit in the country and calculates a 0.97 correlation between the average funding cost of the federal government’s domestic marketable debt and that of private debt, indicating an almost symmetrical alignment. When the government finances itself at a higher cost, the private productive sector immediately feels the impact, Troster says. In this way, he argues, the state acts as the financial market’s “anchor price.”
At the same time, in the economist’s assessment, credit policy is poor and based on short-term operations, which increases defaults. As payment delays continue to rise, the supply of credit contracts and banks tighten lending criteria. Companies tend to shelve expansion plans as they seek to deleverage and improve operational efficiency.
“Fiscal policy has lost any countercyclical character,” says Carlos Kawall, a former secretary of Brazil’s National Treasury and founder of asset manager Oriz. “It is expansionary by definition, regardless of whether the economy is doing poorly or well, especially because it is doing well, with low unemployment.”
The study uses Gross General Government Debt (DBGG) as its basis, which includes the federal government (including the National Social Security Institute, or INSS), states and municipalities. Through the end of 2025, according to the report, public and private debt were growing in parallel, showing an economy becoming more leveraged. “In April 2026, the divergence becomes explicit. Public debt shoots up to 77.2%, while private debt falls to 75.7%.”
Troster says the last time the “crowding out” phenomenon occurred was under the government of Dilma Rousseff, between 2014 and 2016. However, the impact on the private sector now is likely to be much more dramatic because the country has never had a capital market that was as relevant to companies’ liabilities. According to the Cefeb study, the segment’s share of the debt of publicly traded companies rose from 14.8% to 22% between 2022 and 2026, while the share of bank credit fell from 38.4% to 31.2%, indicating a structural shift in companies’ sources of financing.
Kawall points out that investors are on the other side of these issuances, including a large number of individual investors. “We do not have this previous experience in Brazil, but international experience shows that the effect on how the economy functions tends to be amplified because it is more widespread,” he warns. According to him, a banking crisis generally remains more contained and under the control of the Central Bank. However, he notes that between 2023 and 2025, the country experienced a “crowding in” movement, with the “boom” in the private debt market, which largely replicates the public debt’s indexing structure, with securities linked to the CDI and IPCA.
The former Treasury secretary says it is “concerning” to see the government moving toward “crowding out.” It is, he says, a model that consistently depends on increasing the stock of public debt, but that has also used higher revenues to finance itself, through measures such as increasing the IOF financial transactions tax and taxing exclusive closed-end funds.
Economic growth, he assesses, was not enough to absorb the increase in spending, particularly mandatory spending, with the adjustment of the minimum wage and the reindexation of health care and education expenditures. Kawall points out that, when the fiscal framework was introduced in 2023, experts were already warning that it did not guarantee the sustainability of the debt trajectory.
Long-term issuance loses steam
Because the economy grew more than expected, the debt trajectory has not been explosive so far. Kawall notes that the request submitted to the Senate at the end of July for authorization to expand the capacity for sovereign borrowing abroad, proposing to replace the current cumulative ceiling of $100 billion with $35 billion, shows that the Treasury needs to broaden its investor base because of the growing difficulties with longer-term issuances in Brazil. The share of foreign-currency debt would rise from the current 3.8% of total debt to 7%.
“Even with the growth of recent years, the credit market is small compared with the needs of the private sector, while the state is too large. Government debt has grown much more than private debt,” says Jeferson Bittencourt, head of Macroeconomics at ASA Investments and also a former secretary of the National Treasury. He explains that there is the structural problem of Brazil’s low level of savings and the cyclical problem, which is fiscal stress.
The country’s savings, Bittencourt says, are made up of households, companies and the government. “What contribution does the government make to these savings? None; it generates negative savings, consuming other people’s savings, paying high interest rates, over short terms and with a low risk assessment.” Therefore, he says, “crowding out” manifests itself in higher interest rates and shorter terms for the private sector.
The largest companies can still issue debt in the capital markets, at an average cost of 13.68% for debentures, according to the Cefeb report, but smaller companies face greater restrictions, leaving them dependent on bank credit, at an average cost of 18.40% for legal entities, or investment funds in receivables (FIDCs). The difference, the study shows, reached 4.53 percentage points in April, the date of the data analyzed. “Issuing debt at this cost imposes a line of value destruction on most sectors of the real economy,” Troster says.
The effects of this asymmetry are showing up in companies’ financial health. The default rate among legal entities reached 4.8%, a historic peak: among micro and small companies, the rate reached 6%, while it remained at 0.5% among large companies. The number of companies with negative credit records also increased, rising from 6.66 million in January 2024 to 8.96 million in April this year, a 34.5% increase. Meanwhile, the difference between corporate and sovereign borrowing costs, according to Cefeb, remained reasonably stable between January 2022 and April 2026, generally fluctuating within a range of 2.5 to 4.5 percentage points.
Subsidies guaranteed to certain sectors worsen the problem, Bittencourt says, because they are shielded from monetary policy and end up putting further pressure on interest rates. The provision of cheaper credit to certain sectors is also cited by professor Carlos Pedroso, former chief economist at MUFG Bank Brasil, who notes that the presence of the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) has been growing again. He expects lower GDP growth next year, a scenario that would only be avoided if there is an adjustment in the public sector.
In an interview with Valor, the executive secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Rogério Ceron, declined to comment specifically on the Cefeb study but offered a conceptual assessment of “crowding out.”
For him, longer-term rates have three components: rising interest rates around the world, over which Brazil has no control; the trajectory of fiscal policy in Brazil; and the large supply of tax-exempt securities, which puts pressure on the placement of government bonds. “We want a country with lower interest rates; that is a consensus. How do we do that? We need to start dismantling [the two components over which we have influence].”
According to Ceron, on the fiscal side, it is necessary to “send the signals needed to remove the risk premium from the curve resulting from uncertainty.” Regarding tax-incentivized securities, a subject the Finance Ministry has raised repeatedly, he advocates a broad debate because, given the strong growth in issuances, the volume is incompatible with the country’s long-term savings and the situation “is not healthy.”
For the secretary, “someone has to give”: “Either the Treasury itself has to extend the process of seeking the optimal composition of the debt or, on the other hand, these private-sector borrowers who use these instruments will also have to undertake some adjustment. This has to be debated and resolved. We can no longer postpone it.”
Kawall agrees that tax exemptions for certain investments, such as tax-incentivized debentures and real estate and agribusiness credit bills (LCIs and LCAs), are a distortion that worsens the problem, as the financial market itself has pointed out, but “not by a long shot” are they the fundamental reason Brazil is seeing stress at such high levels. “If there were a correction to this taxation, would the problem be solved? No.” The former Treasury secretary also points out that the government itself encouraged demand for these investments, which are more sought after by higher-income investors, by taxing, for example, contributions to VGBL private pension plans.
Bittencourt points to other problems. “There are countries that have higher debt than Brazil, others that have higher costs, but none that have both at the same time,” he says.
Other countries, he says, have more room to maneuver to cut spending. In the U.S., for example, 20% of spending is discretionary, while in Brazil that share is less than 5%. “Fiscal adjustment in Brazil is much more complex than in another country.”
(Jéssica Sant’Ana contributed reporting from Brasília.)
Major chains are tightening costs, rethinking credit, seeking new sales channels as household debt, weaker consumption pressure Q2 results
Renner cut 2026 growth forecast, ruled out expanding customer credit, taking a “cautious” approach — Photo: Ana Paula Paiva/Valor
The difficult macroeconomic environment is taking a toll on the performance of Brazil’s major publicly traded retailers this year, with the first batch of second-quarter earnings showing a growing negative impact from high household debt on sales. Companies say delinquency remains under control, but have already warned that broader indicators point to rising household defaults nationwide.
The tougher environment has affected even the food retail market—theoretically less vulnerable to an initial demand contraction than businesses dependent on credit—as well as apparel and footwear, electronics and technology, executives told analysts last week.
Companies have detailed internal measures they plan to take in the second half, as the election race gets underway, to halt the slowdown or improve their bottom-line results.
GPA, owner of Pão de Açúcar, says it will exercise greater spending discipline through year-end, while Magazine Luiza is preparing to strike agreements with more competing platforms to boost online sales, which declined in the first half. Assaí, meanwhile, is sticking with its “take-from-the-competition” strategy, accelerating the rollout of pharmacies inside its stores this year to tap a new segment and return to faster growth.
Renner said Friday (7) what it will not do to improve its weak April-June results: extend more credit through its Realize financial arm. “We remain cautious and more selective in our credit origination,” CFO Daniel dos Santos told analysts.
The company also warned in its earnings report that as of June 30, Brazil had 83.7 million people with overdue debts, compared with 77.8 million a year earlier, “representing about half of the economically active population, according to Serasa’s Default Map.”
The market’s negative sentiment weighed on retail stocks in Friday’s trading session (7), with the sector spending part of the day among the biggest decliners on the benchmark stock index Ibovespa. Shares of Renner, Magalu, and Assaí were sharply lower in the morning. The three stocks ended the day down 8%, 3.72%, and 2.94%, respectively.
The move is affecting the short- and medium-term performance of the Consumption Index (Icon), the main benchmark tracking shares of Brazil’s major retailers as well as service companies. Over the past six months, Icon has fallen 17.27%, according to calculations by Valor, closing Friday at 2,830 points. Over the same period, the Ibovespa posted a smaller decline of 7.37%. So far in 2026, Icon is down 9%, while the Ibovespa has gained 7%.
According to Alexandre Santoro, CEO of GPA, in a letter accompanying the second-quarter earnings report, the macroeconomic environment remained difficult, “marked by higher household debt, as well as rising delinquency, and by greater competition for disposable income among consumption, financial expenses and new categories of discretionary spending, such as betting platforms.”
The executive also said the company, which is undergoing an out-of-court restructuring, is implementing an efficiency plan involving cuts in expenses and capital expenditures. So far, it has delivered slightly more than 50% of the savings expected under the plan, and this effort will also involve tighter control of operating expenses.
GPA’s net revenue fell 9.6% from April through June compared with 2025, while its net loss widened 16% to R$252 million.
At Assaí, revenue rose 0.9% to R$19.1 billion—below the inflation rate for the period—as lower volumes and consumers trading down from more expensive to cheaper brands weighed on sales, the retailer said during an earnings call. In an example presented during Friday’s call (7), a shopping cart containing 91 kilograms of products would cost R$830 using leading brands and R$437 using alternative brands. In other words, as consumers increasingly trade down, the retailer suffers a significant decline in the value of sales.
Assaí’s net profit more than doubled to R$537 million, driven by tax credits and improved financial results.
In the fashion segment, the World Cup and the weak macroeconomic environment hurt sales at publicly traded retailers, according to second-quarter reports.
In a segment where impulse purchases are increasingly important, competing for consumers’ attention with games played at different times—in an economy with less disposable income—proved particularly difficult for retailers.
Adding to the challenges, this occurred as the federal government decided, after May, to cut the 20% import tax on products coming from abroad, directly affecting apparel imported from China, which began entering Brazil in larger volumes.
Data released by the major chains show that Renner was the hardest hit, followed by C&A and Riachuelo, according to Valor calculations.
According to financial statements, apparel revenue rose 8.9% at Riachuelo, 5.6% at C&A, and 2.5% at Renner. In same-store sales—stores operating for more than 12 months—the gap between this year’s and 2025’s figures stands out. Last year, C&A’s same-store sales rose 17.1%; this year, growth slowed to 4.1%.
At Riachuelo, the pace fell to just over half, from 15.8% growth last year to 7.8% from April through June. Renner posted the sharpest decline among comparable-store bases in the second quarter across all the chains, with growth of just 1.5% this year versus 18.6% in 2025.
The high comparison base naturally tends to weigh on this year’s figure, but analysts were struck by the magnitude of the slowdown in 2026. “The World Cup affected foot traffic until the end of the games, and once Brazil was eliminated [from the tournament], that improved somewhat, but the impact continued through the end,” said André Michel Farber, CEO of Riachuelo.
C&A CEO Paulo Correa told analysts on Wednesday (5) that during previous World Cups, demand declined during the games but returned close to normal afterward. This year was different. “There was an impact on sales every week, even after Brazil was eliminated.”
“Our growth would have been higher if not for the World Cup. There were impacts, but I’m also concerned about economic activity. In any case, I have a positive view of the second half,” he said.
It is unlikely that the slowdown in sales can be attributed solely to the tournament, which is why companies also cited the macroeconomic impact of weakening demand. In any case, amid the uncertainty, the market is likely to wait for third-quarter data to quantify the effect of the slowdown, which became intertwined with the impact of the games.
Renner’s revision announced Thursday (6), cutting its 2026 net revenue growth forecast from 9%-13% to 4%-8% after weaker-than-expected second-quarter sales, is one way of preparing for an environment that has turned tougher than anticipated.
Benefiting from the World Cup, Magazine Luiza saw demand for televisions, home appliances such as refrigerators and microwaves, and furniture increase 39%, 15%, and 10%, respectively, at its physical stores.
The retailer’s store operation also grew 10.3% from April through June compared with 2025. That was not enough, however, to support the group’s overall sales for the quarter.
From April through June, Magalu’s net revenue fell 2.6% to R$8.9 billion, weighed down by weaker online demand, which has a greater impact on the company’s overall figures. E-commerce shrank by nearly 12%, and the channel accounts for 65% of sales.
“Listing products through third-party partnerships is a short-term initiative to resume online growth while maintaining profitability,” CEO Frederico Trajano told analysts Friday. Starting in October, the company, which began selling on Amazon in June, will have its products eligible for Prime and will provide logistics services for the platform.
Trajano also said the retailer is expected to announce new partnerships over the coming months, “or even in the coming weeks.” Industry sources are considering the possibility of an agreement with Mercado Libre. “We believe we will be able to resume online growth, which was hurt in the first half while maintaining profitability.” The retailer’s net loss widened 197% to R$72 million from April through June.
Trajano also referred to “hundreds of initiatives” to automate operations and further review expenses. “We have had a hiring freeze since the beginning of the year. We are also exercising tight control over all expense lines, using our initiatives for matrix-based expense management. We have consultants supporting us, and there is still a lot more to harvest in terms of cost reductions. There is significant room for savings.”
Brazil’s monetary authority also mulls using future flows as credit collateral and is monitoring cross-border models being implemented by private agents
Central Bank mulls linking Pix to foreign instant payment systems — Photo: Hermes de Paula/Agência O Globo
Brazil’s Central Bank announced on Monday (10) that it is considering connecting Pix, the country’s instant payment system, with similar platforms of foreign institutions. The monetary authority said it is monitoring cross-border transaction models being implemented by private agents in partnership with institutions from other jurisdictions.
According to the second edition of the Pix Management Report, released Monday (10), these cross-border transaction models are already enabling Brazilians to use Pix in other countries and for non-residents to use Pix in Brazil through apps from foreign institutions.
The Central Bank says the interconnection of instant payment systems has the potential to reduce fees, increase speed, expand access, and improve the transparency of cross-border transactions.
“Both bilateral interconnections and participation in multilateral hubs are under discussion. These connections would allow for international remittances and purchase transactions with funds available in local currency within seconds,” it highlighted.
The Central Bank is also exploring the integration of Pix into Brazil’s debt market, with the possibility of using future Pix flows as collateral in credit operations.
“The initiative aims to enable information and flows originating from the Pix ecosystem to support the financing of economic activities,” the Central Bank said in the report.
According to the monetary authority, the solution could contribute to improving the quality of collateral and reducing the cost of credit, especially for companies with heavy use of Pix. The Central Bank noted that it is monitoring the solutions developed by private agents to offer credit operations during the initiation of a transaction, allowing customers to split payments and transfers via Pix.
The Central Bank is also seeking to integrate “tax split” into transactions conducted through Pix.
Better known as “split payment,” the mechanism created in the tax reform will automatically settle and distribute taxes. The consumption tax reform introduced the Goods and Services Tax (IBS) and the Contribution on Goods and Services (CBS). The split payment mechanism automatically and immediately retains and collects IBS and CBS at the exact moment of the financial settlement of a sale (whether by Pix, card, or transfer), directing the tax portion directly to the tax authority’s account and crediting only the net balance of the operation to the seller’s account.
The Central Bank said that it is monitoring and evaluating the necessary adjustments to the functioning rules and infrastructure of Pix to enable this functionality.
Brazilian crops could see soybean planting delayed, affecting the sowing window for the second corn crop; coffee and citrus may also be affected
A wizened corn field during the last strong El Niño in 2015/16 — Photo: Divulgação
In the 2026/27 crop year, Brazil’s agribusiness sector is expected to face the strongest El Niño on record, considering events documented since 1950. The last El Niño to receive a “very strong” classification, like the current one, was in the 2015/16 crop year, when 16 different crops suffered productivity losses. It was active from 2014 to 2016.
The climate pattern, which began in June this year, is developing more rapidly and is expected to peak between November and January 2027—with no exact forecast yet for when it will end. Experts consulted by Valor believe that, if a lack of rain and high temperatures materialize in the country’s Center-North, soybean planting could be delayed and yields could fall.
Guilherme Bastos, coordinator of FGV Agro, says irregular rainfall at the beginning of the season could delay planting or require the oilseed to be replanted. In 2024, which was also an El Niño year, 2.9 million hectares had to be replanted because of weather conditions. If the situation is repeated, late soybean sowing could compromise the ideal planting window for the second corn crop. In his view, the prospect of a strong El Niño makes sound crop planning and the purchase of agricultural insurance even more crucial.
Ana Luiza Lodi, a market intelligence analyst at Stonex, notes that if planting is delayed but weather conditions subsequently allow sowing, there would be no major damage to yields. From a market perspective, in the event of a significant crop failure in Brazil and Argentina, for example, prices could rise, as local and global supply-and-demand balances would become tighter.
“Currently, the focus is on the United States, amid some forecasts of excessive heat. If there is any significant problem in the United States, prices could already react even before the South American crop has been determined,” the analyst says.
In southern Brazil, where the phenomenon usually brings above-average rainfall, the concern is excessive precipitation during the establishment of summer crops. “The impact could even be positive for soybean and corn yields in Rio Grande do Sul, as long as the rain is not excessive, as it was in 2024,” says agrometeorologist Ana Maria Heuminski de Ávila, of Unicamp’s Center for Meteorological Research and Applied Climate Studies in Agriculture (Cepagri).
Agrometeorologist Marco Antonio dos Santos of Rural Clima highlights the importance of soil management in dealing with periods of excess or insufficient water. “He [the farmer] first has to do what we call his homework: maintain good crop residue, keep the soil with good plant cover and good chemical and physical structure, so that when it rains, the water can penetrate the entire soil and form a larger layer of water,” he says.
Characterized by an increase in the temperature of Pacific Ocean waters, El Niño has occurred many times. However, as the planet warms, the phenomenon has become increasingly intense and frequent, says Marcelo Seluchi, general coordinator of Operations and Modeling at the National Center for Monitoring and Early Warning of Natural Disasters (Cemaden), which is linked to the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation.
“El Niño is a recurring phenomenon; the issue is that it is becoming increasingly recurrent. Over the past 60 years, there have been more cases, and more intense ones, than in the previous 60 years,” he says. In Brazil, the phenomenon typically increases rainfall in the South and causes drought in the Center-West, North and Northeast.
For Eduardo Assad, a researcher at FGV Agro’s Bioeconomy Observatory, recent episodes of the phenomenon provide a basis for estimating that significant losses could occur in agriculture. According to him, in 2015 and 2024, the phenomenon caused losses of up to 10% of the crop.
Eduardo Martins, director of the Sustainable Agriculture Associated Group (GAAS), sees a risk of even greater damage to soybean production, for example. “If the lack of rain increases, affecting Matopiba [the convergence of Maranhão, Tocantins, Piauí and Bahia] and the Center-West, there is a possibility of 20% losses in the country,” estimates Martins, who served as president of the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama) under the government of Fernando Henrique Cardoso.
Coffee at risk
In addition to grains, some of Brazil’s main perennial agribusiness crops could also suffer losses from the effects of El Niño in the 2026/27 crop year. Coffee and citrus, for example, are among the crops most vulnerable to a combination of intense heat and water deficits, as projected for the season.
According to Eduardo Assad, a researcher at the Bioeconomy Observatory of FGV Agro’s Agribusiness Studies Center, from a physiological standpoint, soybeans and corn are the crops most exposed to risks, but in the Southeast, oranges and coffee are the most sensitive crops. “The forecast is for very strong heat waves and low precipitation. [This could lead to] coffee flower abortion and a loss of water supply for oranges,” he says.
Not all crops are expected to suffer losses. When El Niño occurs, sugarcane fields in the Center-South region typically benefit from increased rainfall and a more even distribution of precipitation, says Fabio Marin, a professor in the Department of Biosystems Engineering at Esalq/USP.
“In El Niño years, especially when the phenomenon is strong, production [of sugarcane] in the Center-South is normally above average,” he says. The main risk, the professor says, is concentrated in harvesting, since excessive rain can make it difficult for machinery to enter fields, delaying the processing of the raw material.
El Niño also alters weather conditions in countries that compete with Brazil. This is the case with India, one of the world’s largest sugar producers, which could face a water deficit during the monsoon rainy season, notes Guilherme Palhares, an analyst at Santander.
*By Luiz Eduardo Minervino and Nayara Figueiredo, Globo Rural — São Paulo
Government is pursuing technical, diplomatic and political efforts while seeking a transition period before new antimicrobial rules take effect in September
With less than a month until the European Union’s ban on Brazilian animal products takes effect, Agriculture Minister André de Paula said Wednesday that the government is working to overturn the measure and keep Brazil on the bloc’s list of approved suppliers.
Speaking to reporters at the International Animal Protein Show (SIAVS) in São Paulo, De Paula said, “The government is prepared to work from the technical, diplomatic, and political standpoints” to reverse the decision. He added that government representatives have been meeting with officials from the European Commission to discuss the issue.
In May, the European Commission excluded Brazil from the list of countries permitted to export animal products to the EU, citing Brazil’s inability to show adherence to EU standards on antimicrobial use. The EU bans the use of antimicrobials as growth promoters and of drugs intended for humans in animal production. This ban is set to start on September 3.
“It is unacceptable for Brazil to be excluded from the list,” De Paula said.
He acknowledged that complying with requirements, such as those governing antimicrobial use, may require an adjustment period for producers, but stressed that Brazil remains a recognized supplier to the European market.
“We have been supplying Europe for decades, as well as many other markets that are as demanding as, or even more demanding than, the European market,” he said.
The minister also said the government is working to prevent the restrictions from disrupting the supply chain and noted the possibility of a transition period. According to him, there is still hope that Brazilian producers will remain eligible to supply the European market.
At the same time, Brazil is seeking to diversify its export markets, De Paula said, noting a technical mission from South Korea scheduled to visit Brazilian beef-processing plants later this month.
Roberto Perosa, president of the Brazilian Beef Exporters Association (Abiec), expressed optimism at SIAVS that the Brazilian government might negotiate a transition period with the European Union. This would help Brazil comply with the EU’s antimicrobial rules governing the beef supply chain and enable continued beef exports to Europe beyond September.
“Meeting those requirements would take one production cycle,” Perosa said, referring to the two-to-three-year period between the birth of a calf and its slaughter.
Since the European Union demands evidence that antimicrobials were not used at any stage of the animal’s life, Brazil might need two to three years to restore its access to the European beef market.
“As things stand today, that is the risk,” Perosa said, referring to the possibility that Brazil may no longer be able to export beef to Europe beginning in September. “But we remain hopeful that the Brazilian government can negotiate a longer transition period with Europe so that we can maintain trade flows,” he added.
The government has been negotiating with the bloc for additional time to implement full traceability throughout the cattle production cycle. It is also considering a nationwide ban on the use of those substances—rather than restricting the rule only to exporters supplying Europe—as a way of signaling its commitment to meeting the EU’s requirements in the future.
*By Mariana Letizio and Clarice Couto, Globo Rural — São Paulo
CNJ approves proposal making removal from office the maximum penalty for judges, instead of forced retirement
New headquarters of the National Council of Justice (CNJ) in Brasília — Photo: Davi Vittorazzi/Valor
The National Justice Council (CNJ) on Tuesday (4) approved a proposal regulating removal from office as the maximum disciplinary penalty for judges. The measure, drafted by council member Ulisses Rabaneda, was introduced in June in compliance with a ruling by the Supreme Court (STF) that abolished mandatory retirement as an administrative sanction that could be imposed on judges.
Mandatory retirement had long been the target of criticism because it allowed disciplined judges to leave office while continuing to receive pay.
The proposal had been introduced in June, but its consideration was suspended to allow discussions with judicial associations. At Tuesday’s plenary session, council members heard oral arguments from representatives of those organizations and adopted a revised version containing adjustments to the transitional rules governing implementation of the resolution.
The new resolution takes effect on the date of its publication and will also apply to pending cases. It will not apply, however, to disciplinary administrative proceedings (PADs) or disciplinary review proceedings that have already been finally concluded.
Organizations representing members of the Judiciary had requested that the new sanction’s pension rules also be specified. The rapporteur, however, concluded that the issue should not be addressed through a CNJ regulation but rather decided on a case-by-case basis by the competent courts. He also argued that other “gaps” left by the resolution, such as procedural rules, should be resolved by the STF and that the council was merely complying with the Court’s ruling.
The resolution approved by the CNJ changes the rules governing disciplinary administrative proceedings against judges and the applicable penalties. Under the proposal, mandatory retirement is eliminated as a disciplinary sanction and replaced by removal from office. The other penalties currently provided for remain in force: warning, reprimand, compulsory transfer, compulsory leave, and dismissal of judges who do not have life tenure.
According to the resolution, the penalty of removal from office may be imposed on judges who seriously violate their official duties, engage in conduct incompatible with the dignity, honor, and decorum of judicial office, demonstrate an inability to perform their duties, or display performance incompatible with the responsibilities of the Judiciary.
The penalty may also be imposed on judges who engage in activities incompatible with judicial office, receive payments related to cases under their jurisdiction, or participate in partisan political activities.
When a disciplinary administrative proceeding concludes that the penalty should be imposed, the judge will be immediately removed from judicial duties and will receive compensation proportional to the length of pension contributions until the proceeding reaches a final, unappealable judgment. During that period, the court must declare the position vacant and take steps to fill it.
In cases decided by courts or by the superior councils of the Labor Court system and the Federal Court system, the decision must be forwarded to the CNJ for review after all appeals have been exhausted. When the judge under investigation is a member of a superior court, the review will be conducted by the National Inspector of Justice.
If the CNJ upholds the penalty, the case will be referred to the Office of the Attorney General (AGU), which will have up to 30 days to file an action before the STF seeking the judge’s removal from office. The Supreme Court will then decide the case and determine whether to impose the sanction on a final basis.
At the same plenary session on Tuesday, STF and CNJ Chief Justice Edson Fachin also introduced a proposal aimed at preventing conflicts of interest within the Judiciary. Consideration of that resolution, however, was suspended for 60 days to allow courts, judicial councils, and judges’ associations to submit comments on the proposal.
After that discussion, the initiative will be placed on the agenda for consideration by the council members. If approved, the measure will establish guidelines for all levels of the Judiciary. The only exception is the STF, which is not subject to the CNJ’s oversight.
In broad terms, the proposal identifies situations requiring judges to exercise “special attention,” such as participation in events, conferences, seminars, and academic activities funded or predominantly funded by private companies. It also addresses the receipt of gifts, benefits, or other advantages, as well as family or professional relationships “capable of creating conflicts of interest.”
According to the proposal, judges and court employees in such situations must comply with transparency requirements regarding funding sources and the extent of expenses covered. Courts may also establish mechanisms requiring the disclosure of such interests, and academic activities must remain compatible with judicial duties and judicial independence.
Washington says move responds to Brazil’s refusal to grant visas to two U.S. diplomats and delay in approving ambassador nominee
The United States on Tuesday (4) revoked the visa of Brazil’s ambassador to Washington, Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti. U.S. officials said the move was retaliation for Brazil’s decision to deny visas to two American diplomats and for its failure to approve Washington’s nominee for ambassador to Brasília. In response, Brazil’s Presidential Communications Secretariat (SECOM) said the justifications were false and argued that the decision made “clear the unwarranted interest” of the United States “in interfering in Brazil’s next presidential election” in October.
Announcing the decision, the U.S. State Department said the measure was a reciprocal response to Brazil’s actions and that it had postponed the move several times to allow President Lula to reverse course, which it said he had not done.
U.S. officials added, however, that the visa revocation could be quickly reversed if Brazil took what they described as the appropriate steps and accepted President Donald Trump’s nominee for the U.S. Embassy in Brasília. Trump nominated Florida House Speaker Daniel Perez.
Another State Department official, speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity, said the Brazilian ambassador’s visa would be reinstated once the dispute is resolved. The official also stressed that revoking the visa does not amount to expelling the diplomat. She may remain in the United States, but without a valid visa.
Still, the official said indications are that Lula’s government will not resolve the issue before October’s election. Perez’s nomination was announced publicly by the Trump administration in June. It has been approved by the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee but still requires confirmation by the full Senate before he can take up the post in Brasília, provided Brazil also grants its approval. Confirmation requires a simple majority of the 100-member Senate. The host country’s approval, known as agrément, is the diplomatic procedure by which an ambassador is formally accepted and is typically considered a formality.
SECOM argued, however, that the agrément process is confidential and that “the designated nominee’s name should only become public after consent has been granted,” as provided for in Article 4 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
“The United States government publicly announced the name of its nominee before formally requesting agrément from the Brazilian government. Brazil is abiding by international law. The Vienna Convention establishes no deadline for granting agrément. The U.S. request is still under review,” the statement read.
Beyond the dispute over Perez’s nomination, Brazil’s Foreign Ministry last month denied visas to Riley Barnes, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, and one of his senior advisers, Samuel Samson. The visas were denied after The Washington Post reported that the two planned to travel to Brazil to question the integrity and reliability of the country’s electoral system.
The State Department rejected those accusations, saying the two officials had planned to visit Brasília between July 27 and 30 to meet with government officials, religious leaders, and others to discuss “election integrity” as well as religious freedom and freedom of speech.
“Our diplomats were prevented from carrying out the routine and customary work conducted between our two countries. Under those circumstances, after a lengthy delay and without any indication that the agrément impasse would be resolved, we adopted a reciprocal measure against a Brazilian diplomat,” the State Department official said.
In response, SECOM said the two officials “planned to visit the country to cast doubt on the integrity of Brazil’s electoral system, in an unacceptable attempt to interfere in the national political process.”
SECOM also noted that sanctions against Brazilian officials remain in effect, “including the cancellation of visas” to the United States, based on what it described as the “unfounded allegation of political persecution” of former President Jair Bolsonaro. Those affected include Federal Supreme Court (STF) justices and senior members of the executive branch.
“The Brazilian government spared no effort to resolve these differences,” SECOM said. “During his visit to Washington in May, among other issues, President Lula asked President Trump to lift the individual sanctions.”
For that reason, SECOM said Tuesday’s decision was not “an isolated incident,” but rather “part of a deliberate escalation of hostile measures against Brazil, driven by ideological reasons incompatible with a bilateral partnership that has always been based on mutual respect.” It added: “It also makes clear the unwarranted interest in interfering in the next presidential election.”
Tensions between the two countries escalated again in July, when the Trump administration imposed a 25% tariff on a range of Brazilian exports, citing alleged unfair trade practices following an investigation under Section 301 of the Trade Act. Brazil formally rejected the allegations.
Lula also denounced the tariffs as an attack on Brazil’s sovereignty and accused Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (Liberal Party), his main opponent in October’s presidential election, of lobbying in Washington for the measures to be imposed. Lula also warned Trump not to meddle in Brazil’s elections.
Last week, the Trump administration also extended for one year an executive order signed in June 2025 imposing a 50% tariff on Brazilian products. The measure has no practical effect because the U.S. Supreme Court suspended the 50% tariffs, ruling that Trump had exceeded presidential authority by invoking an emergency to impose the trade measures.
In the executive order extending the measure, the White House made a series of allegations against Brazil. It said Brazil engages in practices that interfere with the U.S. economy, infringe on the free speech rights of American citizens, violate human rights, and undermine U.S. interests in protecting its citizens and companies. It also accused members of the Brazilian government of “politically persecuting a former president, his family, and his supporters,” referring to former president Jair Bolsonaro, who is serving a prison sentence after being convicted by the STF for attempting a coup.
One week after imposing the 25% tariff, the United States also levied a 12.5% tariff on Brazil and 59 other countries, citing alleged failures to prevent the import of goods produced with forced labor.
Despite revoking the ambassador’s visa, the State Department official said Washington attaches great importance to its relationship with Brazil and respects the Brazilian people and whichever government they choose through free and fair elections. SECOM likewise said that, “in line with its diplomatic tradition, the Brazilian government opposes the logic of confrontation and reaffirms its commitment to dialogue and negotiation in all of its international relations.”
Exigência passa a valer para recursos com interesse além das partes
05/08/2026
Recursos ao Superior Tribunal de Justiça (STJ) passarão a depender da demonstração de relevância econômica, política, social ou jurídica que ultrapasse os interesses das partes envolvidas. A medida regulamenta um mecanismo previsto na Constituição e busca reduzir o volume de processos que chegam à Corte. A lei com a regulamentação foi sancionada nesta terça-feira (4).
A Constituição já considera relevantes os recursos relacionados a ações penais, ações de improbidade administrativa, causas com valor superior a 500 salários mínimos, casos que possam resultar em inelegibilidade e decisões que contrariem a jurisprudência dominante do STJ. Com a nova lei, novos critérios são incluídos no rol.
O projeto de lei teve tramitação concluída no Congresso no dia 17 de julho, após aprovação no Senado, Casa de origem, e na Câmara.
“Espero que essa inovação possa trazer ao povo brasileiro, que precisa do bom funcionamento do STJ, mais agilidade nas coisas. Hoje, o povo pode ter esperança de que as coisas podem andar mais rápido na Justiça brasileira”, disse o presidente após a assinatura.
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