Naive Brazil to Rethink Relations With U.S., Bolsonaro Ally Says

(Bloomberg) — Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was “naive” to align fully with the U.S. and should change course, the head of the powerful agribusiness caucus in Brazilian Congress said.Alceu Moreira, a Bolsonaro ally and the president of the Parliamentary Agriculture Front, said two developments have prompted a review of Brazilian foreign policy: The continuation of a U.S. ban on Brazilian raw meat; as well as President Donald Trump’s decision to prioritize Argentina’s bid to join the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development after publicly endorsing Brazil’s membership.“That’s when we stopped being naive,” Moreira said in an interview at Bloomberg‘s office in Brasilia. “Being naive is when I think that, just because I like you, you should like me back in the same way. Now I see that I like you but you don’t actually like me that much.”Read more: All-In Trump Bet Backfires for Bolsonaro Amid Tariff ThreatsSince taking office in January, Bolsonaro has abandoned Brazil’s longstanding diplomatic tradition of multilateralism in favor of full-throated alignment with the U.S. and Israel. To date, however, the policy has yielded few gains for Brazil, prompting unease among some prominent supporters of the administration.New ApproachAs a top lobbyist for Brazil’s thriving agribusiness sector, Moreira said he is assisting the government in setting a new approach, without providing details.In October, the U.S. told Brazil that it would maintain a ban on fresh-beef imports from Latin America’s largest economy. The U.S. suspended imports in 2017 after finding meat containing blood clots and lymph nodes. Brazil said the findings were abscesses stemming from a reaction to components of a vaccine against foot-and-mouth disease. After the U.S. measure, Brazil reduced the vaccine dose and changed the feed stock in an effort to see the ban overturned.Last month, an official from the agriculture ministry said Brazil was “100% confident” that the U.S. would remove the ban. But Trump’s decision last month to reinstate tariffs on Brazilian steel and aluminum, which took the Bolsonaro’s government by surprise, poured cold water on Brazilian expectations that the U.S. would soon resume fresh beef imports.According to Moreira, Trump’s tough stance is a response to pressure from American farmers, who compete with Brazilian exporters in global markets.“The Americans are losing market share on a daily basis and have no room to really increase production,” the lawmaker said. Meanwhile, he added, Brazil has the technology and land to dramatically increase productivity and attend to the world’s growing demand for food, especially from China.“It used to take three years and two months to produce 240 kilos of beef,” he said. “Now it takes only one year and eight months.”European RelationsBrazil’s agricultural potential also affects its relation with Europe, Moreira said.Countries like France and Ireland are blocking the implementation of a trade deal between the European Union and the South American trade bloc Mercosur by blaming Bolsonaro for Amazon fires as cover for their fear of competitors, according to him.Read more: Tears of Joy as Mercosur Leaders Celebrate Historic EU DealBut on the other hand, European countries need to put the deal into practice to guarantee access to abundant, affordable agricultural products. “It’s a matter of food security,” Moreira said.He added Brazilian farmers will likely benefit from a recent government-backed bill that seeks to ease restrictions on foreign land ownership to stimulate agriculture. The bill, currently in Brazil’s Senate, would lift current restrictions, but set limits on the size of property foreigners could buy. It would also block land purchases in border areas.Senator Iraja Abreu, author of the project, says that approval of the bill would attract 50 billion reais ($12.2 billion) per year in investments for agribusiness and encourage job creation.To contact the reporters on this story: Samy Adghirni in Brasilia Newsroom at [email protected];Simone Iglesias in Brasília at [email protected] contact the editors responsible for this story: Walter Brandimarte at [email protected], Bruce DouglasFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

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