Brazil slams U.S. for protectionism

[JanDutchy]

Source: Xinhua NA



2011-03-20 02:59:42

BRASILIA, March 19 (Xinhua) -- Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff Saturday criticized the United States for its protectionist measures while trying to pull itself out of the finance crisis, saying that these measures will affect world currencies and force other countries to take defensive measures.

Speaking at her two-hour working meeting with visiting U.S. president Barack Obama in Brasilia, Rousseff also slammed U.S. barriers to Brazilian products such as ethanol, cotton and orange juice, and called for "fair and balanced relations."

Rousseff proposed an alliance for education and innovation, and joint efforts to exploit oil reserves in Brazil's continental seabed.

She expressed concern with the slow pace of reforms in international organizations, and reiterated Brazil's intention to enter the UN Security Council as a permanent member.


Read more: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/20/c_13788043.htm

[aquart]

1. Us??? Where? When? How?

[exboyfil]

2. Wait a second Brazil has a domestic

content law. That is why my employer is making vehicles in that country. They dare to talk about protectionism???

[Redford]

3. It's been a few years

but I remember having to get a visa to go on a business trip down there. Hard to believe they are calling us protectionist.

[JanDutchy]

5. What to say on the USA HIV-travelban? Only a year ago Obama banned it.

[Kolesar]

7. My employer had to create a "joint venture" & make products in Brazil just to sell them in Brazil

Brazil is as protectionist as they come.

[LaPera]

4. LOL!

Dude, you're pointing at the wrong country!

Try the country that sells plastic rice for food to it's poorer citizen's!

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/02/08/report-china-fake-rice-plastic/

[rabs]

6. Obama's visit: what the MSM is NOT telling you

Today in Brasila, O met with top Brazilian industry leaders. All of Brazil's former presidents were invited.

One declined the invitation, Lula da Silva, who preferred to stay in Sao Paulo to celebrate one of his son's birthday. That was a major snub of O.

Lula da Silva is the most successful and respected president in Brazil's history. That respect extends around the world.

Why?

Last year Lula and the Turkish president tried to negotiate against U.N. sanctions against Iran because of the Iranian nuclear issue dispute. O turned them down.

Also, in 2009, the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa came under relentless seige for weeks by U.S.-tolerated golpist police and army troops when Brazil granted ousted Honduran President Zelaya political asylum. O did nothing to prevent that, or to reverse the illegal fascist coup against the democratically elected Zelaya.

Then there was this last night in Rio de Janeiro:


"FORA OBAMA" in Portuguese = "GET OUT OBAMA"


The usual desecration of a U.S. flag.



Obama scheduled to be in Rio tomorrow Sunday. Doubtful many "cariocas: (residents of Rio) will pay any attention, for Sundays are dedicated nationally to "futebol."

(edit -- typo)

[pampango]

8. Looks like it's over the subsidies that our government pays to cotton growers.

Brazil, U.S. Agree to Avoid Tariffs in Cotton Dispute

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-04-06/brazil-u-s-agree-to-avoid-tariffs-in-cotton-dispute-update3-.html

The Obama administration offered $147.3 million in assistance to Brazilian cotton producers and suspended an export-credit program for American farmers, in a bid to end a trade dispute with the Latin American nation.

The WTO, the Geneva-based global trade arbiter, had allowed Brazil to adopt $591 million in annual penalties against the U.S. and also withhold payment on intellectual property rights or break patents worth $239 million annually. WTO judges in 2008 upheld a ruling that the U.S. hasn’t done enough to scrap aid to cotton producers, a practice that encourages excess production and drives down world prices.

The government will also seek to ease sanitary barriers to Brazilian imports of pork and beef, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said in a statement today on the preliminary deal. The U.S., which lost a World Trade Organization ruling in August that said its cotton subsidies violate global trade rules, will work with Brazil to reach a comprehensive agreement by June.

Oxfam America, the aid group that has worked with cotton farmers in West Africa, called the U.S. subsidies “destructive and illegal. The U.S. may be buying time with this agreement, but only a full reform of U.S. cotton subsidies will benefit vulnerable cotton farmers around the world,” Laura Rusu, a spokeswoman for Oxfam, said in an e-mail.

[exboyfil]

9. What about the domestic content laws?

Or have they achieved their aim. We have a huge facility in Brazil now because of them. Actually I think it is a good idea to build down there (build were the products are being used) but we need to have reciprocity and we should have flexibility to export some products to them that make sense for us to build.