Brazil and the United States are moving their trade dispute from video calls to the negotiating table. Brazilian Development, Industry and Trade Minister Márcio Elias Rosa and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, who heads the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), will meet in person between September 30 and October 1 in Milwaukee, on the sidelines of a gathering of G20 industry and trade ministers. The G20 groups the world's largest economies. The minister confirmed the meeting to G1, and Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira will join the delegation.
It will be the first face-to-face meeting between the two governments since talks on the tariff package resumed with a video conference in late August. There is no deal yet. The minister said technical teams have been exchanging documents and preparing the next round since their last virtual conversation.
The stakes for Brazil span much of its export basket. According to G1, the general 25% surcharge covers industrial goods, processed agricultural products and manufactures, hitting mainly ethanol, farm and industrial machinery, footwear and apparel, mining equipment and electrical machinery. Specific steel and basic metals sectors face 50%, and products that already carried partial surcharges can reach 37.5%. A long list was left out, at zero tariff: beef, coffee, oranges and orange juice, crude oil and natural gas, Embraer aircraft, pulp, semiconductors and medicines.
What each side wants
The interests are asymmetric. Washington imposed the tariffs after a formal USTR review that concluded Brazil maintains unfair trade and regulatory practices. The U.S. complaint list includes barriers to American ethanol, questions about Pix, the instant payment system run by Brazil's central bank, court rulings against social media platforms, debates over digital taxation, and demands tied to fighting illegal deforestation, corruption and intellectual property violations. Brasília wants lower rates and predictability back for its exporters.
From friction back to the table
The meeting is the latest chapter in a relationship that had soured. According to CNN Brasil, the United States revoked the visa of Brazil's ambassador in Washington, Maria Luiza Viotti, and Brazil denied visas to American diplomats. The thaw began with a phone call from President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to Donald Trump on August 21, which opened the way for technical teams to resume work. Both presidents are expected at the opening of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 22. O Globo also reported that the two governments are preparing a new round of talks for late September.
Brazil plans bilateral meetings with nearly every G20 delegation during the week in Milwaukee. The priority, the minister said, is settled: of all the meetings on the agenda, the one Brazil wants is the negotiation with Washington.