Trump’s Brazil Tariffs Could Impact Beef and Coffee Trade

By Ryan Hanrahan

Bloomberg’s Ilena Peng, Dayanne Sousa, and Mariana Durao reported that “President Donald Trump’s unexpected move to threaten a 50% tariff on Brazil risks roiling global commodity markets, disrupting trade on everything from beef to coffee.”

“The US is Brazil’s second-largest trading partner, trailing only China. But while the two nations compete directly in some markets like corn and cotton, Brazil  an agricultural powerhouse  also produces tropical goods like coffee that can’t be grown in the continental US,” Peng, Sousa and Durao reported. “Brazil has been ramping up beef shipments to meet growing US demand, and is a key supplier of wood pulp used in everything from books to toilet paper. That’s spurring hopes that some sectors could be singled out or exempted from tariffs.”

“Still, Brazil’s strength in commodities gives it some flexibility, and the country could ease the impact by finding buyers elsewhere,” Peng, Sousa and Durao reported.

Agri-Pulse’s Oliver Ward reported that “some farm-state lawmakers are eyeing potential opportunities for the U.S. agricultural sector should President Donald Trump follow through on his threat to impose steep new tariffs on Brazil.”

“‘I’m very happy to keep Brazil out of my agriculture market,’ Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., told Agri-Pulse on Thursday,” Ward reported. “‘Brazil manipulates our markets when it comes to sugarcane being used for ethanol.'”

“Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., said she’s ‘not surprised’ that the president opted to hike duties on Brazil. ‘I think the president is trying to level the playing field for agriculture,’ she said,” according to Ward’s reporting. “‘Brazil can import to the United States duty-free,’ Fischer added. But when U.S. ethanol producers, like those in her state, send product to Brazil, they face an 18% tariff, she noted.”