Trump to 'restore' tariffs on steel from Brazil and Argentina

[Eugene]

Source: BBC

Trump to 'restore' tariffs on steel from Brazil and Argentina

2 December 2019

US President Donald Trump has said he will place tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from Brazil and Argentina.

He justified the move saying those countries' weak currencies had made it harder for US food exports to compete.

"Brazil and Argentina have been presiding over a massive devaluation of their currencies, which is not good for our farmers," Mr Trump said.

Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro said he would seek talks with Mr Trump.

"Their economy is not comparable with ours, it's many times bigger. I don't see this as retaliation," Mr Bolsonaro said in a radio interview with Brazil's Radio Itatiaia.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-50633500

[dawg day]

1. Remember when presidents couldn't just impose tariffs?

Remember when the GOP used th screech about big government?

[Judi Lynn]

2. All-In Trump Bet Backfires for Bolsonaro Amid Tariff Threats

David Wainer and Samy Adghirni, Bloomberg News
47m ago

(Bloomberg) -- Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is learning the cost of partnering with Donald Trump the hard way.

During his first year on the job, Bolsonaro assiduously courted the American president, parroting his hard-line policies on Venezuela and Hezbollah while breaking with diplomatic protocol by predicting a Trump victory in 2020 during a visit to the White House.

Yet his all-in bet on Trump is quickly souring as signs mount that the alliance isn’t delivering real benefits to Brazil.

Trump’s announcement Monday that he is reinstating tariffs on steel and aluminum from Brazil and Argentina follows a decision by the White House in late August to give priority to Romania and Argentina’s bids to join the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development despite public reassurances in favor of Brazil, Latin America’s largest economy.

Bolsonaro’s inability to get a clear diplomatic victory, at least so far, from his robust support of Trump raises questions about his decision to shift Brazil’s foreign policy. It also weakens him domestically by giving ammunition to rivals who warned against joining forces with someone they see as an unreliable partner.

“In international relations there are no friends, only interests,” Rodrigo Maia, Brazil’s lower house speaker and a centrist who has criticized Bolsonaro’s foreign policy, told Bloomberg News on Monday. “Trump is defending Americans and we need to defend Brazilians.”

More:
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/all-in-trump-bet-backfires-for-bolsonaro-amid-tariff-threats-1.1356473

Bolsonaro must secretly admire his fellow tyrant's treachery.