Bolsonaro Should Open The Brazilian Market To The US, Says Former Ambassador

Thomas Shannon, the United States Ambassador in Brazil from 2010 to 2013, says that Brazil's relationship with the US has more advantages than the one with China

Patrícia Campos Mello
São Paulo
Thomas Shannon, former US Ambassador in Brazil - Folhapress

The Bolsonaro administration should open the Brazilian market to US products in a smart way, and that approach would reduce Washington's appetite for tariffs like the one imposed on steel and aluminum earlier this year. That is the opinion of Thomas Shannon, former US ambassador in Brazil from 2010 to 2013, and who held the third highest position in the United States State Department until the beginning of 2018.

"I believe the president-elect and his team understand that, even if it's important to sell commodities to China, Brazil's relationship to the United States offers much more to your country's future," said Shannon, who currently works as a senior international policy advisor at the law firm Arnold&Porter.

"The Brazilian market is relatively closed. I see Bolsonaro as someone that recognizes the importance of opening the economy, in an intelligent way, and someone that can see that this will bring huge benefits to the country, such as economic growth, increase in productivity and lower costs. There is space for this opening, and I think it would reduce the White House's appetite to use instruments like tariffs and quotas.

Besides, many Brazilian companies made heavy investments in the United States to have direct access to the market, and in a way, they anticipated such hindrances."
 

Translated by NATASHA MADOV

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