We must negotiate, not retaliate, says minister on US tariffs
Brazilian Finance Minister Fernando Haddad said Wednesday (Mar. 12) that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s decision at first is to negotiate and not retaliate against the 25 percent tax imposed by the US on steel and aluminum, which affects Brazilian exports.
“President Lula said we should keep our cool. We’ve negotiated other times under much more unfavorable conditions than this,” the minister told reporters after a meeting with representatives of the Brazilian steel industry, who presented a report with arguments for negotiation.
According to Minister Haddad, the investors “brought consistent arguments, according to which [the tax] is not even a good deal for the Americans.”
The minister did not go into more detail about the negotiating proposals put forward by the steel sector, but merely stated that the report would inform the negotiations led by Brazil’s Ministry of Development.
“We’re going to communicate to the US government that there is a misdiagnosis,” Minister Haddad said.
The 25 percent tax on steel and aluminum by the US came into force on Wednesday (12), after having been confirmed the previous day by the US government. The measure directly affects Brazilian exports.
The US is one of the biggest buyers of Brazilian steel. As per data from the Brazil Steel Institute, in 2022, the US bought 49 percent of the total steel exported by the country. In 2024, only Canada surpassed Brazil in steel sales to the US.
“The US can only lose. Our [bilateral] trade is quite balanced,” the minister argued.
The Finance Ministry, he went on, will now prepare a technical note regarding the Brazilian steelmakers’ proposals, which should be sent to vice-President Geraldo Alckmin, who is also also the minister of Development, to guide negotiations with the US.
