According to the President of Brazil, Michel Temer, the election of Republican businessman Donald Trump will not change anything in the institutional relations between Brazil and the United States of America. Temer pointed out that this is a State-to-State relationship.
“The Brazil-US relationship is institutional, between the two States”, said Temer, highlighting the fact that both countries have a democratic tradition.
In his letter, Temer expressed the Brazilian government’s wish to work together with the new administration in Washington ‘for the mutual benefit of our peoples’.
The Brazilian president highlighted the historical relationship between Brazil and the United States, which is characterized by a high degree of intensity and diversity at government level, but also in the ties that unite both countries’ societies and business communities in a wide range of fields.
It was recalled that both countries have a long-standing partnership under the commercial focus and that USA is the second largest trading partner with Brazil. The President reiterated the interest in attracting North American investments for the 34 concessions of Growth Project (Projeto Crescer, in the Portuguese acronym). In September of this year, Michel Temer announced the investments opportunities to North American businessmen in a New York meeting.
“We are open to the input of foreign capital that can combine with the national capital. For us, it’s important to have investments from the United States and so many other countries here in Brazil. It is important for the main focus of our government that is to gradually extinguish the unemployment”, said Temer.
Besides being working together on key global, multi-lateral and regional issues, the United States and Brazil economic relations are significant and growing. Mechanisms that facilitate the movement of trade, investment, and people between the United States and Brazil, expand prosperity in both countries, and foster dialogue on key issues.
Brazil is the world’s seventh-largest economy and the United States’ ninth-largest merchandise trading partner. Two-way trade has been at record highs in recent years, totaling $109 billion in 2014. The United States had a $12 billion trade surplus with Brazil in 2014. Brazil’s main imports from the United States are petroleum products, machinery, aircraft, electronics, and optical and medical instruments. The United States is Brazil’s second-largest export market. The primary products are crude oil, vehicles, electronics, and machinery. The United States is the leading foreign investor in Brazil, with an accumulated foreign direct investment stock of $78 billion in 2013. Brazilian investment in the United States more than doubled to $14.9 billion from 2009 to 2013.
During President Rousseff’s June 2015 visit to Washington, DC, the United States and Brazil agreed to expand economic cooperation by aligning regulatory standards and developing single-window systems to facilitate trade, launch work-sharing on patent applications, and expand infrastructure investment opportunities for both countries.
As the two largest democracies and economies in the Western Hemisphere, the United States and Brazil have a partnership that is rooted in a shared commitment to expand inclusive economic growth and prosperity, promote international peace and security and respect for human rights, and strengthen defense and security cooperation. Ten bilateral agreements signed in March 2011, five more signed in April 2012, and 11 signed in June 2015 testify to an intensification of engagement in areas of mutual interest. The two countries have over 20 dialogues at the assistant secretary level or above, including the Global Partnership Dialogue, the Economic and Financial Dialogue, the Strategic Energy Dialogue, and the Defense Cooperation Dialogue.
Therefore, it is undoubtedly that this relation is strong and greater than any Presidency.