The US and Brazil seek to strengthen their business relations in an effort to reduce their dependence on imports from China. The move is in fact in line with their security concerns stemming from the mainland.
During a virtual summit focused on US-Brazil cooperation, the importance of strengthening their bilateral economic ties was discussed. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that there could be ‘enormous risk’ from China’s active participation in both countries.
Although Brazil might consider the proposed development, China is its largest trade partner for items such as ore and soy. The established cooperation between China and Brazil is long-standing and it has received a lot of support from both countries, media reports said.
“To the extent we can find ways that we can increase the trade between our two countries, we can … decrease each of our two nations’ dependence for critical items” importing from China, he said during the summit. “Each of our two peoples will be more secure, and each of our two nations will be far more prosperous, whether that’s two or five or 10 years from now.”
The US and Brazil have signed a protocol which points to first holding discussions on future trade ties between both countries followed by identifying sectors to lower trade barriers. For this year, the US Export-Import Bank is expected to support projects with a valuation of $450 million while the US International Development Finance Corporation has plans involving projects worth $1 billion in Brazil, media reports said.