BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazilian Finance Minister Fernando Haddad said on Thursday his government expects lengthy tariff negotiations with the United States, and suggested they would include trade discussions involving sugar and ethanol.
“As they are waging war with the entire world, they will not make an exception for Brazil. That certainly will not happen,” he told GloboNews TV. “But when we sit at the negotiating table, they will bring up ethanol, and we will bring up sugar.”
When U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled his plan to raise import tariffs, details of which are expected in early April, a White House fact sheet on the move cited Brazil’s ethanol tariffs as an example of unfair trade practices.
That led Brazil’s Energy and Mining Minister Alexandre Silveira to call a potential U.S. tariff on Brazilian ethanol unreasonable, stressing that the two countries have historically negotiated ethanol and sugar trade together.
Brazil is one of the world’s largest sugar producers and the vast majority of its ethanol also comes from sugarcane, compared to U.S. ethanol made largely with corn.
Brazilian officials often argue that the tariff imposed by the U.S. on sugar imports outside preferential quotas is too high, exceeding Brasilia’s tariff on ethanol imports.
Haddad said the exchange of services with the United States, where it is a major exporter relative to Brazil, could also be a key issue in negotiations.
The minister stressed Brazil’s stance is not to “add fuel to the fire” of the tariff dispute, so it is waiting for the U.S. to outline its approach to bilateral trade.
“Meanwhile, Brazil is reviewing its entire import and export agenda, item by item, so that when we go to the negotiating table, we can also present our demands,” he said, stressing that the approach would be “reciprocity, not retaliation.”
(Reporting by Marcela Ayres; Editing by Brad Haynes and Aurora Ellis)
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