Biden promised Bolsonaro that the US will reconsider steel tariffs – AméricaEconomía

US President Joe Biden promised his Brazilian counterpart, Jair Bolsonaro, that his country would review tariffs on Brazilian steel during a bilateral meeting on Thursday, two US government sources said.

Although no decisions were made, Bolsonaro left the bilateral meeting with a promise from the US president that the issue would be analyzed in meetings between the two countries in the coming months.

“President Biden said he does not have details on the matter at the moment, but he will communicate and the matter will be discussed with the technical teams of the two countries as soon as possible,” one of the sources said.

The issue was discussed during the private meeting between the two presidents on Thursday, in which Brazilian Foreign Minister Carlos Franca and US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken were also present.

“We have indications that this issue needs to be addressed,” the other source said. “The truth is that the beneficiary of these fees now is Russia.” The expectation is that this will be resolved quickly. “

The two presidents met at the ongoing Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles in what was expected to be an “awkward” meeting.

Brazilian steel import quotas were created in 2018 during the administration of Donald Trump and prove that Brazil has the right to export part of the product without import taxes, but the Brazilian government wants to return to the previous policy, according to which there were no taxes .

At present value, Brazil has the right to export a quota of 3.5 million tons of steel duty-free. According to sources spoken to by Reuters, Brazil is currently exporting quantities close to the current quota to the United States, which prevents the expansion of the Brazilian business.