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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday (local time) held talks with Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira on US-Brazil trade.
Rubio and Vieira talked about matters of mutual importance. In a post on X, Rubio said, "Met with Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira at the Department today. We discussed matters of mutual importance and a reciprocal framework for the US-Brazil trade relationship." https://x.com/SecRubio/status/1989122891536052499?s=20 Earlier, on October 27, Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva stated that a trade deal between Brazil and the United States could be sealed within days, reported Al Jazeera. Lula made the statement in Kuala Lumpur after meeting with US President Donald Trump. Lula has been seeking a deal since the White House slapped a 50 per cent tariff on Brazilian exports in July due to legal pressure on Trump ally and former President Jair Bolsonaro. Lula described his meeting with Trump, on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit, as "surprisingly good", and said he received assurance that a deal can be reached soon. "He guaranteed to me that we will reach an agreement," Lula told a news conference. "I am very confident that in a few days we will reach a solution." Later, as he made his way to Japan, Trump also signalled that a deal is likely following "a great meeting," Al Jazeera reported. "We'll see what happens," the US president told reporters. "They'd like to do a deal." A deal could avert punitive US tariffs after months of animosity between Lula and Trump, whose relationship has warmed since an unscheduled meeting at the United Nations in New York earlier. The Trump administration imposed a tariff of 50 per cent on Brazilian products in July. It linked the decision to what the US president described as a "witch hunt" against Bolsonaro. Lula said that during the meeting in Malaysia, he had presented Trump with a document outlining arguments against the tariff hike. While the document acknowledged the US has the right to impose the measures, its move was based on "mistaken information", the Brazilian president said. (ANI)
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