Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Friday spoke to his US counterpart Donald Trump over the phone, saying that he was scrapping planned tariffs on steel and aluminum.
Bolsonaro posted a video on his Facebook page in which it showed, “(Trump) was persuaded by my arguments and decided… that our steel and aluminum would not be” subject to tariffs”.
Taking to Twitter, President Trump said that he had a “great call” with Bolsonaro and that they had discussed trade, but did not mention any agreement on cancelling tariffs.
Just had a great call with the President of Brazil, @JairBolsonaro. We discussed many subjects including Trade. The relationship between the United States and Brazil has never been Stronger!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 20, 2019
Earlier this month, the United States had reimposed tariffs on steel and aluminium from Brazil and Argentina, in a serious blow to Bolsonaro’s plan to strengthen the alliance between the western hemisphere’s two largest economies.
Bolsonaro said Trump had changed his mind in a phone call initiated by the US president.
Last year, Trump announced global tariffs of 25 per cent on steel and 10 per cent on aluminum but later approved exemptions for some countries, including Argentina and Brazil after they agreed to quotas.
Brazil is the second-largest supplier of steel to the US market behind Canada.
In August, tens of thousands of people gathered to the streets across Brazil where they started chanting “Burn Bolsonaro and not the Amazon”, in protest against President Jair Bolsonaro’s inaction in the face of massive wildfires that were devastating the world’s largest tropical rainforest.
The President, who took office in January has moved to roll back environmental protections and to dismantle barriers to development in indigenous reserves.