Brazil Publishes List of 222 Products for Retaliation Against the US

Chewing gun The Brazilian government is getting ready to retaliate against the United States for the subsidies that country gave its cotton growers. The Camex, Brazil's Foreign Trade Chamber, has just published a preliminary list of 222 products that might suffer penalties.

Punishment might include increase in up to 100% in the Import Tax rate. The list of products was published in the Diário Oficial (Federal Daily Gazette) for public consideration. Brazilian businessmen will have until November 30 to present their objections in case the tariff might hurt them. 64% of the items are consumer goods and the other 34% intermediate products used for the production of goods.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) authorized Brazil to retaliate after Brazil won its case against the Americans. The WTO had decided that US cotton subsidies should have ended by September 2005. The US government help to farmer never stopped, however, and Brazil has been authorized to slap taxes worth US$ 900 million. Half of this will come in actions against American products and the other half from services.

Among the products listed are wheat, cars, contact lenses, sun glasses, hygiene and cleansing goods, oils, sardines, cherries, fabrics, cotton, alkaline batteries and even chewing gums. The list represents US$ 2,7 billion or 10.6% of the total imported by Brazil from the US in 2008 (US$ 25.808 billion).

The government prepared an inflated list knowing it will need to make cuts to please the national industry, which will complain about the inclusion of some of the products in the roll. Brazilian surtaxes on products cannot surpass US$ 450 million as per the WTO rules.

Brazil's Health Ministry wants to use the other US$ 450 million in penalties to break US's medications patents. For this, however, it would be necessary the introduction of a new legislation that would authorize this "cross retaliation."

Brazil says that US president Barack Obama did not change what had been the practice of the George W. Bush administration on this matter. Says executive secretary for Camex, Lytha Spí­ndola: "We are ready to retaliate starting January 2010. The ideal would be for the US to comply with the WTO determinations and get rid of the illegal subsidies, but as of yet there was no action in this direction."

If the reprisal goes through it will be the first time Brazil retaliates against a country associated to the WTO. In the past, as when Brazil and Canada fought for the aircraft market putting Brazilian Embraer against Canadian Bombardier, both countries opted for an agreement.

In the list of products chosen by Brazil to retaliate it was given preference to products with higher added value or those that have a domestic counterpart or can be easily acquired from other countries.

"We will get the businessmen's suggestions, perform a triage and establish statistical data and values. A retaliation suggestion will be sent to Camex, which, in its December meeting, will take the final decision. Regarding the issue of intellectual property, the ministers that are part of Camex will debate what to do concerning this matter also in the December encounter," concluded Spí­ndola.

Tags:

You May Also Like

Lula Calls Nonsense Christ’s Saying that Poor Need Wait for Heaven After Death

Brazil’s ex-president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva called  ‘nonsense’ the biblical statement that the ...

Brazil's Embraer Super Tucano training airplane

Brazil’s Embraer Shortlisted by Emirates’ Armed Forces

The Armed Forces of the United Arab Emirates are evaluating the purchase of airplanes ...

31% of Brazilian Homes Still Lack Sewage Collection

According to Brazil’s 2004 Household Survey (Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de DomicÀ­lios 2004) (PNAD-2004), ...

The 6 Men and 2 Women Who Wil Be Running for President in Brazil

The deadline for the official registration of presidential candidates in Brazil ended last night, ...

New York City Center shopping mall in Rio, Brazil

Brazil: Lack of Tourists Makes Rio’s Shops Sing the Blues This Carnaval

The Brazilian airports' crisis, which reduced the number of domestic tourists in Brazil, is ...

GDP, Inflation and Interest Rates Expected to Go Up in Brazil Next Year

According to a Brazil's Central Bank poll among financial experts, which is published weekly ...

Irresponsible and Lazy, Brazilians Like to Live Dangerously

One of the most disturbing aspects of the ongoing scandal involving allegations that Brazil’s ...

Brazil Blames US for Doha Negotiations Stalling

Brazil's chief negotiator at the Doha Round of trade talks at the World Trade ...

After Record Year of Foreign Investment Brazil Braces for Slowing Down in 2012

Foreign direct investment (FDI) is expected to reach a new record this year in ...

Brazilian College, a Whites-only Club

A University of the State of Rio de Janeiro study based upon the 2000 ...

WordPress database error: [Table './brazzil3_live/wp_wfHits' is marked as crashed and last (automatic?) repair failed]
SHOW FULL COLUMNS FROM `wp_wfHits`