BRAZIL ANNOUNCES RETALIATORY TARIFFS ON 102 U.S. PRODUCTS
News Date March 09, 2010
On Monday, Brazil announced its intention to impose tariffs on 102 U.S. products. The import duty on raw cotton is raised from 6 percent to 100 percent. Grapes, cherries, potatoes, wheat and tomato products are also among the products listed. The U.S. grape, cherry and potato industries have already been severely impacted by the Mexican tariffs imposed after Congress eliminated the NAFTA Mexican Trucking Program.
In a statement released yesterday afternoon, U.S. Trade Representative spokeswoman Nefeterius McPherson said, "We are disappointed to learn that Brazil's authorities have decided to proceed with countermeasures against U.S. trade in the WTO Cotton dispute. [The] USTR is working to reach a solution to the issues in this dispute without Brazil resorting to countermeasures and we continue to prefer a negotiated solution." (Contact: Amy Mann)