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Restrictions on Brazilian steel were imposed in 2018 during the Trump administration

06/14/2022

Restrictions on Brazilian steel were imposed in 2018 during the Trump administration — Foto: Reprodução/Severstal

The Biden administration has signaled to Brazil that it will not meet so soon the demand to review the quotas that limit the ingress of domestic steel in the U.S. market — although it has already made agreements with the European Union and Japan.

Valor has learned that the U.S. deputy secretary of commerce, Don Gaves, advised Brazilian representatives when he was in Brasília about a month ago that there was no political climate yet in the U.S. to deal with the review of the situation of Brazilian steelmakers.

However, the number 2 at the Commerce Department “promised to make the best efforts,” according to a source.

When asked recently in an interview about lifting tariffs on steel from China, the U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said that “with respect to the tariffs, our approach, as with everything in this relationship, is to be strategic.”

The restrictions on Brazilian steel were imposed in 2018 during the Trump administration, despite President Donald Trump ideological affinity with the Bolsonaro administration. That was when Mr. Trump, amid trade tensions with China, decided that foreign steel threatened to “weaken national security” and imposed an additional 25% tariff on imports of steel products and 10% on aluminum imports, causing tremendous irritation in Washington allies who saw the measure as retaliation.

Of the $2.3 billion of steel that Brazil exports on average to the U.S. per year, 85% is semifinished products, that is, raw material for the American steel mills to make the final product.

Under President Joe Biden, the U.S. and the European Union reached in October an agreement whereby Washington kept the additional tariffs, but exempted a specific portion, allowing European companies to sell a certain “historical volume.”

Later, Washington struck a deal with Japan, another major ally, eliminating tariffs since April within an import quota of 1.25 million tonnes of Japanese steel — a volume still lower than the 1.8 million tonnes exported by Japan in 2018.

In the case of Brazil, the assessment in Brasília is that the Biden administration has no appetite to deal with trade. Last week, during the Summit of the Americas, the U.S. insisted on redesigning supply chains amid the new geopolitical situation, but showed nothing concrete, according to a source.

*By Assis Moreira — Geneva

Source: Valor International

https://valorinternational.globo.com/

Guedes met UBS CEO Colm Kelleher — Foto: Reprodução/Twitter/ME

Economy Minister Paulo Guedes said that “everyone is going after Brazil” at the World Economic Forum and that, with the turnaround in world geopolitics, the country will “dance” with the U.S. and China at the same time.

In a conversation with journalists, Mr. Guedes said that Brazil suffered pressure from both the United States and Europe in the wake of the war in Ukraine to stand on one side. But that now “nobody is cursing us” and Brazil is seen as a solution to energy and food crises.

As an example, he said that the new interest in Brazil with a series of bilateral meetings on Tuesday in Davos — with the CEOs of UBS, Mittal, Alibaba, Sem Merck, Claure Capital, YouTube, Canada Pension Plan Investment (CPP), as well as lunch with investors promoted by Itaú Unibanco.

“There is demand from 30 of the largest companies in the world, but we can’t supply everyone,” said the minister.

In the World Economic Forum, Brazil is almost absent from the agenda, without any specific debate. The public manifestations of most of the authorities present are about the size of a possible recession in the European Union, in the United Kingdom, and perhaps in the U.S. after next year. In other words, little is said about Brazil, except in restricted circles that know more about the country.

According to the minister, “people do not understand: the world has changed and Brazil’s position has improved.” He says that “Brazil has lost 30 years, it has not connected (with global value chains). China got out of poverty, Thailand, everyone went up, and Brazil was left hopping.”

The minister adds that with the crises caused by the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, other countries got into difficulties, but not Brazil. And so, in his vision, the country can redesign its production chains with new axes, such as renewable energy and semiconductors.

In this scenario, said Mr. Guedes, the pressures came on Brazil. He said that the Europeans asked Brazil if the country was on their side or on Russia’s, if it was with the Brics or with the OECD.

On the one hand, the U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen made it clear that Washington would redesign investment criteria and that the world will never be the same. In other words, the U.S. needs closer supply chains and reliable partners.

The way Brazil is going to stand, according to the minister, is to be “the guy that is going to give food and energy security to Europe. And the U.S., which Brazil is close to and a friend of, will not need to go to China.”

As for China, “the Chinese and the Americans had a synergy that lasted 30 years, then China grew and they started fighting. We are going to dance with both of them.

Furthermore, Brazil wants to accelerate its integration into the OECD. He said he has established a good relationship with Mathias Cormann, Secretary-General of the OECD, who will visit Brazil in the near future.

Source: Valor International

https://valorinternational.globo.com

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