United States commercial representative Jamieson Greer said President Donald Trump’s management did nothing “unusual” by imposing a 50% tariff on importing Brazilian products and that the Republican opted for a “smaller step” without cutting the South American country from the international financial system.
Greer made the statements in an interview with CBS’s Face The Nation program, recorded on Friday (1st) and aired on Sunday (3).
The commercial representative was asked by host Margaret Brennan about tariffs to Brazil, who, in the journalist’s opinion, were based on issues that “have nothing to do with commerce,” such as Trump’s allegation that former President Jair Bolsonaro is the victim of a “hunting” at his Supreme Court (STF) trial.
“Well, two things. First, there is a 10% rate on Brazil because we have a surplus with them. This is the reciprocal fare. And then there is a 40% rate that the president decided to apply based on the International Emergency Economic Powers Act [Ieepa, na sigla em inglês]as we would do any sanctions where we see geopolitical issues, ”said Greer.
“The president saw in Brazil, as he saw in other countries, misuse of the law, misuse of democracy, which could be called Lawfare [guerra jurídica]. It is normal to use these tools for geopolitical issues. That is, sanctions, we have been using them for years with all types of countries, including countries we like, ”he said.
Asked if he saw tariffs and sanctions as the same thing, Greer claimed that the two instruments “are only different on scale.”
“I mean, fares are, in fact, lighter than a sanction – a sanction, you are excluding a country from your financial system. You are forbidding trade with it. A fare, you are allowing the trade. You are just imposing a rate about it. It is a lower step than sanctions,” said the commercial representative.
Greer argued that the US government, whether in the hands of Democrats or Republicans, has used YEEPA to impose sanctions “for all kinds of geopolitical reasons on all types of countries.”
“Sometimes, [a sanção] It is all over the country, it is sometimes specific to certain individuals and often for foreign leaders and authorities. So that [tarifas sobre o Brasil] It is not unusual. In fact, the president could have gone further in the type of sanction that was used. Instead, he simply used a rate instead of cutting them [Brasil] completely from the financial system [internacional]”He added.
