{
  "id": "RL33258",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "RL33258",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 312174,
      "date": "2006-02-03",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-07T19:15:30.206029",
      "title": "Brazilian Trade Policy and the United States",
      "summary": "As the largest and one of the most influential countries in Latin America, Brazil has emerged as\na\nleading voice for developing countries in setting regional and multilateral trade agendas. The United\nStates and Brazil have cultivated a constructive relationship in pursuit of their respective efforts to\npromote trade liberalization, including attempting to broker a compromise with the European Union\nin the World Trade Organization (WTO) Doha Round and forming bilateral working groups on trade\n(and other) issues. Still, they approach trade policy quite differently, are at odds over how to proceed\nregionally with the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), and share concerns over specific trade\npolicies and practices.\n \n Brazil\u2019s trade strategy can be explained only in part by economic incentives. Its\n\u201ctrade\npreferences\u201d also reflect deeply embedded macroeconomic, industrial, and foreign policies. \nWhereas\nU.S. trade strategy emphasizes the negotiation of comprehensive trade agreements on multiple fronts,\nBrazil is focused primarily on market access issues as they pertain to its economic dominance in\nSouth America. Brazil exercises this priority in all trade arenas, such as pursuing changes to\nagricultural policies in the WTO, expanding the Southern Common Market (Mercosul) in South\nAmerica, and resisting the FTAA for lack of a balance conducive to Brazilian interests.\n \n Brazil has a modern, diversified economy in which services account for 53% of GDP, followed\nby industry and manufacturing at 37%, and agriculture at 9%. Agribusiness (commodity and\nprocessed goods) account for some 30% of GDP, explaining Brazil\u2019s emphasis on\nagricultural\npolicies in trade negotiations. Brazil is the world\u2019s largest producer of sugar cane, oranges,\nand\ncoffee, and the second largest of soybean, beef, poultry, and corn. It is also a major producer of steel,\naircraft, automobiles, and auto parts, yet surprisingly, a relatively small trader by world standards. \nThe United States is Brazil\u2019s largest single-country trading partner.\n \n Brazil is critical of U.S. trade policies such as the Byrd Amendment (repealed, but program in\neffect until October 1, 2007), which directs duties from trade remedy cases to affected industries, the\nadministration of trade remedy rules, and what it considers to be discriminatory treatment in the U.S.\nexpansion of free trade agreements in Latin America. It also objects to product-specific barriers such\nas tariff rate quotas on sugar, orange juice, ethanol, and tobacco; subsidies for cotton, ethanol, and\nsoybeans; and prolonged antidumping orders on steel and orange juice. U.S. concerns focus on\nBrazil\u2019s comparatively high tariff structure, especially on industrial goods,\nMercosul\u2019s common\nexternal tariff program, and Brazil\u2019s refusal to address issues of critical importance to the\nUnited\nStates such as services trade, intellectual property rights, government procurement, and investment.\n \n Despite these differences, both countries recognize the potential for important gains to be had\nfrom mutually acceptable trade liberalization at all levels. As a developing country with an\nopportunity for considerable growth in both exports and imports, however, Brazil may have the most\nto gain from addressing both foreign barriers to its trade, and unilaterally opening its economy\nfurther.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": false,
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      "topics": []
    }
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Economic Policy",
    "Foreign Affairs"
  ]
}