“U.S. President Donald Trump’s aggressive trade policy could have a strategic side effect: moving Brazil and other regional powers away from American influence and bringing them even closer to China. This is the assessment of the President’s Special Advisor for International Affairs Celso Amorim,” Brazil’s Valor Econômico daily reported April 1. “The way Trump has been acting in the trade sphere could push large countries in the region, such as Brazil and Colombia, into China’s sphere of influence,” Amorim told the daily.
Brazil would prefer to negotiate a resolution to a dispute over tariffs with the United States, but is preparing its own retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods, if needed, Amorim added. Brazil would choose what tariffs would be placed on what products such that Brazil did not end up “shooting itself in the foot” with them, he specified.
Valor wrote that Amorim worries that “the growing fragmentation of the international system could lead to the world being divided into three major poles of power: the United States, China and Russia. He warns that this reconfiguration could result in fixed spheres of influence, with a direct impact on the autonomy of developing countries.” Amorim is quoted: “That’s the risk we run. That’s why we have to work hard to unite Latin America and the relationship with Africa.” He suggested (as President Lula has) that Europe should finally reach an agreement on a Free Trade Agreement with the Mercosur group in South America, to counterbalance its problems with the U.S.
Amorim acknowledged Trump’s more pragmatic stance on the war in Ukraine, which makes room for Brazil to act as a mediator, alongside China, in search of a negotiated solution for the conflict, Valor added.
