Monday’s announcement of U.S. tariffs on Brazilian steel and aluminum imports is yet one more reason China may be looking like a better partner.
BY OLIVER STUENKEL | DECEMBER 6, 2019, 12:57 PM
https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/12/06/bolsonaro-losing-bet-trump-brazil-tariffs/
U.S. President Donald Trump’s surprise announcement this week that he would be imposing tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Brazil is just the latest in a series of disappointments for Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who has staked a great deal on good relations with Trump. Beyond hurting Bolsonaro’s reputation as having an in with the U.S. president, Trump’s announcement will have significant effects on Brazil’s foreign policy and trade relationships, regardless of whether the sanctions go through.
As the most pro-American president in modern Brazilian history, Bolsonaro has put establishing a strong alliance with the United States at the center of his foreign policy from the start. On the campaign trail, the Brazilian leader frequently promised to embrace Trump’s tough stance on China and even visited Taiwan. Brazil’s Foreign Minister Ernesto Araújo famously described Trump as “Western civilization’s Hail Mary pass” and publicly fretted about the influence of “Maoist China” in Latin America. After Bolsonaro took office in January, to show the country’s near-automatic alignment with the United States, Brazil pulled out of the United Nations migration pact, and it has otherwise been a fierce U.S. ally in multilateral forums, radically breaking with Brazilian diplomatic tradition. Two months later…
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