Trump: US–Brazil commercial ties “unfair”
US President Donald Trump said today (Oct. 1) that the commercial relations between Brazil and the US are “unfair.” In a press conference on the new trade deal between his country, Canada, and Mexico (the new Nafta), signed Sunday (Sep. 30), Trump said that Brazil has treated US companies “unjustly.”
While answering a question on commercial ties between India and the US, Trump said that tarifss charged by the Asian country are absurd and too high, adding that no previous administration “talked about it.”
"Toughest in the world"
Still on tariffs, the US president mentioned Brazil as an example of a country of tough and unfair negotiations. “They charge us whatever they want, and if you ask some companies, they will say Brazil is among the toughest in the world, maybe the toughest.”
“We never called Brazil to say, look, you’re treating our companies unjustly, treating our country unjustly,” he went on to say.
In the conference, Trump talked several times about the treatment received by the US in trade dealings, which he described as unjust and unfavorable to his country. “We’re losers in every deal we have. If you look at virtually any other country, you’d see we have a commercial deficit,” he declared.
The US is Brazil’s second largest importer, second only to China. The main items sold to the US are crude oil, airplanes and manufactured iron and steel products.
According to official data, last year, Brazil’s surplus with the US added up to $2.06 billion. The country exported $26.872 billion to the US and imported $24.846 billion.
Last week, the US economy received 12.3 percent of the total exported by Brazil. As for China, Brazil’s biggest commercial partner, the percentage stood at 21.8 percent.
