Brazil’s Congress on Wednesday approved a law allowing the executive to respond to trade barriers, after US President Donald Trump announced a 10 percent tariff on exports from Latin America’s biggest economy.
The so-called “Economic Reciprocity Law” was approved unanimously by the House of Representatives after receiving the Senate green light on Tuesday.
The foreign ministry, meanwhile, said in a statement it “regrets” the additional tariffs announced by Trump on imports from Brazil and other trading partners around the world.
“The Brazilian government is evaluating all possible actions to ensure reciprocity in bilateral trade, including recourse to the World Trade Organization,” it said.
The South American powerhouse is the second-largest exporter of steel to the United States after Canada, shipping four million tonnes of the metal in 2024.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told reporters in Tokyo last week his country “cannot stand still” in the face of Trump’s trade tariffs.
Brazil imports a large number of steel-based manufactured products from the United States, including industrial machinery, car engines and parts for its aerospace industry.
During Trump’s previous term in office, Brazil was exempt from steel tariffs imposed to protect US producers from what the American president claims is unfair competition.
Senior Brazilian lawmaker Lindbergh Farias said Wednesday the “reciprocity” in the title of the law “does not necessarily mean retaliation.”
The project was “an additional instrument in the hands of the government in negotiations with the United States,” he said.
According to the text, the government may adopt “countermeasures” to “actions, policies, or unilateral practices of a country or economic bloc that negatively impact the international competitiveness of Brazilian goods and products.”
It added that actions such as suspending trade concessions, investments and intellectual property agreements, would fall to the Chamber of Foreign Trade, linked to the Presidency.
The law received approval from the party of far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro in a rare moment of unity in a country deeply polarized along political lines.
