Reuters, citing Brazilian government sources, reported that US President Mr Joe Biden has promised Brazilian President Mr Jair Bolsonaro that the United States will reconsider tariffs levied on Brazilian steel as they met last week. The report quoted a source as saying that “President Biden said he had no details on the issue right now, but would check in and the matter would be taken up with the technical teams of the two countries as soon as possible.”Another source said “We have had signs that this issue must be addressed. The truth is that the one who is benefiting from this tariff now is Russia. The expectation is that this will be resolved quickly.”The subject was discussed during the private meeting between the two presidents last week on the sidelines in Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, where only the Brazilian Chancellor Mr Carlos Franca and US Secretary of State Mr Antony Blinken were also in attendance.The quotas for Brazilian steel imports were created in 2018 during Donald Trump's administration and establish that Brazil has the right to export part of the product without import taxes, but the Brazilian government wants a return to the previous policy, under which there were no taxes.At current values, Brazil is entitled to export a quota of 3.5 million tonnes of steel without the tariff and Brazil currently exports quantities close to the current quota to the United States, impeding the expansion of Brazilian business.Steel ExportsSteel ImportsSection 232Jair BolsonaroJoe BidenUS have established a tax-free quota of 3.5 million tonnes per year of Brazilian steel but during the first four months of 2022, the volume has already reached 2.32 million tonnes. The reasoning behind the Brazilian demand is that Brazilian slab producer’s import coking coal from the US, and while increasing slab imports from Brazil, the importers in the US will be less dependent on Russian slab.In 2021, Brazil exported 5.57 million tonnes of slabs to the USAs president, Mr Trump adopted several protectionist measures to contain imports, on the grounds that he intended to preserve US jobs. Mr Biden, who has been in office for a year and a half, still has many of those measures in place. However, after the pandemic and the War in Ukraine, the United States started talking about near-shoring, a move to bring industries and production chains spread across the planet closer, in a move that can benefit Latin America. The US government hopes that, in addition to improving the region’s economy, it will also help to discourage the migration of Latin Americans to the US.
Reuters, citing Brazilian government sources, reported that US President Mr Joe Biden has promised Brazilian President Mr Jair Bolsonaro that the United States will reconsider tariffs levied on Brazilian steel as they met last week. The report quoted a source as saying that “President Biden said he had no details on the issue right now, but would check in and the matter would be taken up with the technical teams of the two countries as soon as possible.”Another source said “We have had signs that this issue must be addressed. The truth is that the one who is benefiting from this tariff now is Russia. The expectation is that this will be resolved quickly.”The subject was discussed during the private meeting between the two presidents last week on the sidelines in Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, where only the Brazilian Chancellor Mr Carlos Franca and US Secretary of State Mr Antony Blinken were also in attendance.The quotas for Brazilian steel imports were created in 2018 during Donald Trump's administration and establish that Brazil has the right to export part of the product without import taxes, but the Brazilian government wants a return to the previous policy, under which there were no taxes.At current values, Brazil is entitled to export a quota of 3.5 million tonnes of steel without the tariff and Brazil currently exports quantities close to the current quota to the United States, impeding the expansion of Brazilian business.Steel ExportsSteel ImportsSection 232Jair BolsonaroJoe BidenUS have established a tax-free quota of 3.5 million tonnes per year of Brazilian steel but during the first four months of 2022, the volume has already reached 2.32 million tonnes. The reasoning behind the Brazilian demand is that Brazilian slab producer’s import coking coal from the US, and while increasing slab imports from Brazil, the importers in the US will be less dependent on Russian slab.In 2021, Brazil exported 5.57 million tonnes of slabs to the USAs president, Mr Trump adopted several protectionist measures to contain imports, on the grounds that he intended to preserve US jobs. Mr Biden, who has been in office for a year and a half, still has many of those measures in place. However, after the pandemic and the War in Ukraine, the United States started talking about near-shoring, a move to bring industries and production chains spread across the planet closer, in a move that can benefit Latin America. The US government hopes that, in addition to improving the region’s economy, it will also help to discourage the migration of Latin Americans to the US.
