U.S. Cancels Tariffs Talks , as Brazil Signs MOUs with Russia, China
Aug. 13—Brazil intends to develop, whether the Trump administration likes it or not.
Finance Secretary Fernando Haddad reported on Aug. 11 that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had cancelled his scheduled Aug. 13 Zoom discussion with Haddad. It was to have been the first high-level meeting between the two trading partners, despite President Trump imposing 50% tariffs on a number of key Brazilian exports to the U.S., beef and coffee among them. The meeting was not cancelled for any economic reason, Haddad charged, but at the instigation of “extreme right forces,” who “acted together with some of President Trump’s advisors” to cancel it. Nor was the meeting rescheduled. “What is clear to us is that the trade issue is not the focus,” Haddad said.
The Trump administration’s intent with the tariffs is regime change. When he announced the punitive tariffs, President Trump said as much, demanding that the Brazilian government order the Supreme Court to shut down the ongoing trial of former President Jair Bolsonaro, charged with attempting to organize a military coup so he could continue in power after President Lula da Silva defeated him at the polls in 2022. Bolsonaro’s son, Eduardo took a “leave of absence” from Congress to move to the United States, where he is currently coordinating the campaign against the Supreme Court and the Lula government with Trump advisors.
Brazil is therefore developing more beneficial relations. On Aug. 11, Brazil’s Minister for Integration and Regional Development Waldez Góes signed an MOU in Beijing with the Vice Minister of China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) Wang Changlin for cooperation on regional development policies. The agreement specifically focuses on policies for reducing regional inequalities, a problem which China has been working on for some time, and which is quite important for Brazil, where poverty in parts of the Northeast is similar to the poorest parts of Africa, as compared to the southeast of the country, where there is much more industry and infrastructure and where living standards are far higher. Joint case studies, technical visits, training and science and technological innovation programs are on the agenda. The NDRC has already invited 24 high-level officials from Brazil’s Planning and Budget Ministry and the Executive Office of the President (Casa Civil) to participate in a seminar on economic development strategies.
The same day, Finance Minister Haddad signed both a memorandum with Chinese Finance Minister Lan Fo’an, updating plans “to expand joint projects, raise the level of economic cooperation and boost sustainable regional integration,” and a separate MOU with Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov on the creation of a bilateral “Economic and Financial Dialogue.” The aim of the latter is reportedly to guarantee stable communication between the ministries, on seven priority areas, which range from macroeconomic policies, to “confronting challenges and reforms;” tax cooperation; infrastructure financing; new bilateral opportunities; joint action in multilateral forums—and “other topics of mutual interest.”