Vice President Geraldo Alckmin reported that the first meeting will be with representatives of steel, aviation, aluminum, pulp, machinery, footwear, auto parts, and furniture companies, the most affected ones by the new tariffs.

Another meeting is scheduled for exporters in the agricultural and livestock sectors, with producers of orange juice, meat, fruit, honey, leather, and fish.

The Minister of Trade and Industry also announced that there will be more meetings during the week and that US companies with permanent operations in Brazil and bilateral trade entities between the two countries will also be included in the talks.

This decision was strongly criticized by the government of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, which considers the action a political reprisal, motivated by the Republican’s criticism of the Supreme Court and his defense of former president Jair Bolsonaro, accused of being a coup plotter.

According to Alckmin, the talks are part of the work of an inter-ministerial committee created by Lula and chaired by him, comprising the Civil House and the Ministries of Development, Industry, Commerce and Services, Finance, and Foreign Affairs.

It was also reported that there will be talks between the governor of Sao Paulo, Tarcisio de Freitas, and the Charge d’Affaires of the US Embassy in Brazil, Gabriel Escobar, who will also meet with the private sector in Sao Paulo, the state with the largest concentration of US investment in Brazil.

Recently, political scientist Paulo Roberto de Sousa stated that Lula’s administration could turn the US offensive into a domestic political advantage, which in turn could pave the way for Brazil’s strategic repositioning and advocates for expanding trade relations with countries in the Global South, given the tense relationship with the White House.

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