Brazil has brought its Trade Reciprocity Law into effect Monday (Apr. 14). The legislation allows the government to adopt commercial measures against countries and blocs that impose unilateral barriers on Brazilian products.
The text was approved by Congress early in the month and was sanctioned last week without vetoes by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Trade war
The new law comes in response to the escalation of the trade war unleashed by US President Donald Trump against most countries, which has intensified in recent days, more specifically against China.
Regarding Brazil, the tariff imposed by the US was 10 percent on all products exported to the US. The exception to this range of tariffs are steel and aluminum, whose surcharge imposed by the Americans was 25 percent, affecting Brazilian companies, which are the third largest exporters of these metals to the US.
The Brazilian government has not announced countermeasures against the USA tariffs.
Source: Agência Brasil