In an exclusive interview with TV Brasil, The President of APEX (Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency), Jorge Vianahe stressed the federal government to support the affected Brazilian companies and to convince the US authorities to revoke the tariff or, at least, mitigate it.
Viana highlighted the R $ 30 billion do Sovereign Brazil Plan intended for affected national companies and the opening of a new Apex office in Washington, the capital of the United States.
“It’s $ 30 billion that creates an insurance, loan, tax burden, exclusively for companies that have been reached by the tariff. We are also present, stretching our Miami office for Washington, we already have in New York and San Francisco,” said on Friday (15).
The President of APEX said that the Brazilian government has already established partnerships with AMcham (American Chamber of Commerce for Brazil) and with sectors that import Brazilian products, “that can make strength with the White House for us to exclude more products from this tariff.”
Sovereignty
For Viana, if the US tariff against Brazil had been caused for commercial reasons, it would already be resolved. The President of APEX also stated that the demands of the United States to revoke sanctions against Brazil hurt the sovereignty of the country.
“There is no way to have political action in this case, when the conditions being placed by the president of the United States hurt the sovereignty of Brazil. [O presidente estadunidense] It is wanting to do an interference in a power, in this case, the Brazilian judiciary, and this is inconceivable. If it was a commercial question, it was already resolved, ”he said.
Viana classified the commercial situation of the United States with Brazil as “extraordinary, fantastic, for them” and “good for us”, and stressed that, because of this, one of the Brazilian strategies against the tariff will be that the country approaches the US importers of national products.
“We don’t want to give up on this trade. And not to give up, we also have to bring to our side the importers who make a lot of money from Brazilian products that get there. This goes for coffee. It goes for products like meat, which is making it expensive in the United States because their flock has fallen a lot.”
New Markets
The president of APEX stated that another strategy will be to find new countries buying Brazilian products, and that the agency has mapped new markets.
“There are markets for us to put from coffee to shoes. We have already studied more than 108 markets, there are sectors that can have new markets in 72 countries,” he said.
According to Viana, the new mapped markets are “quite significant” to absorb the products that are no longer imported by the United States, due to the tariff.
“We think the sectors hit, doing work of participation in fairs, events, and bringing buyers to Brazil, we will find buyers for part of these 18 billion dollars [em exportações do Brasil para os EUA]which is the slice that is being achieved by the tariff. ”
Opportunities
The President of Apex said that Brazil is very well prepared to face the crisis with the United States and must find new opportunities amid the barrier. According to Viana, in a trade war everyone involved lose, but “sometimes loses more is the one who caused the war.”
“Brazil is very well to face this crisis. In a trade war, which I think is what is being done by the United States, everyone loses. But sometimes loses more who caused the war. [O Brasil tem] BRICS, Brazil has a great relationship with India, with China, with Russia. We have friendship with all countries, including the United States. ”
“Everyone loses, but those who better take advantage of opportunities can get better from this crisis,” he added.
Exports
Apexbrasil data show that from January to March this year, Brazil exported US $ 77.3 billion in goods, less than US $ 77.7 billion from the same period of 2024. Commercial balance signed positively at $ 10 billion.
The main exported products were gross oil, soy, iron ore and green coffee, especially the exports of industrialized goods, which were discharged in the period, including items such as machines and electrical appliances.
Regarding the main countries of destination of Brazilian exports, in the first quarter stand out China (US $ 19.8 billion), European Union (US $ 11.1 billion), United States (US $ 9.7 billion) and Mercosur (US $ 5.8 billion), especially Argentina, with an increase of 51%.
