Even Embraer Will Be Used as an Argument against President Trump's Steel Tariff

03/12/2018 - 11h01

Brazilian steel plants have hired a lobby office in Washington D.C. to try to convince American congressmen and government authorities to spare Brazil from the new tariffs on steel created by President Donald Trump.

In the negotiations, Brazilian President Michel Temer could be pressured to bring even the business between Embraer and Boeing to the table.

Brazilian authorities intend to use the next two weeks to convince the U.S. not to impose the new barriers on imported steel.

The idea is to avoid the word retaliation at first and try to remove Brazil from the list of countries affected by the tariff through dialogue. This week, the lobby office will begin to represent Brazilian steel mills in Washington D.C. These are the two ways Brazil will follow at first.

Firstly, the Brazilian private sector will go to the office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to ask American buyers to defend the exclusion of Brazilian products from President Trump's list.

In the decree signed by Trump, American businessmen are allowed to present exceptions to the protection measure if they claim that they will have losses with the new tariff.

The second way will run through the U.S. Commerce Department in a negotiation between the authorities of the two countries.

Brazil's Minister of Industry and Commerce, Marcos Jorge de Lima, has already presented arguments defending Brazil's exemption from the tariff to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Wilbur Ross, in Washington during a meeting earlier this month.

	Eduardo Knapp/Folhapress
	Brazilian authorities intend to use the next two weeks to convince the U.S. not to impose the new barriers on imported steel

Translated by THOMAS MUELLO

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