Another reason why you will see the United States attempt to get rid of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. He has proposed a free-trade agreement with China to lessen dependence on the U.S., which has thrown up barriers to the South American nation's most lucrative exports.
The United States is not shy about getting involved in Brazil, newly declassified U.S. documents show the extent of American willingness to provide aid to Brazil's generals during the 1964 coup that ushered in 21 years of often bloody military rule.
Trying to stop Brazil's A-Bomb is another terrific motive for a change in regime. #msg-2902539
Lula is about to come under heavier assault in my opinion. -Am
Brazil Seeks China Trade Agreement to Counter U.S. Barriers
May 25 (Bloomberg) -- Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva proposed a free-trade agreement with China to lessen dependence on the U.S., which has thrown up barriers to the South American nation's most lucrative exports.
Lula, in a speech to about 200 students at Beijing University, proposed expanding commerce between the Mercosur trade bloc -- Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay -- and China, India and African countries. Mercosur will soon start work on a free-trade agreement with China, he said.
``We are trying to build a new economic and trade geography,'' said Lula, 58, the first Brazilian leader to visit China in nine years. ``Part of that push is aimed at boosting trade flows among developing countries.''
Lula, a former union leader, said he would seek closer ties with Beijing in his January 2003 inaugural speech. The two countries since organized a bloc that scuttled World Trade Organization talks last year by demanding that the U.S. and Europe eliminate barriers to agriculture imports.
Brazil last month won a WTO ruling that U.S. payments to support cotton growers are unfair. Ending farm subsidies in the U.S. and Europe would boost world prices for the sugar, coffee and orange juice produced by Brazil's farmers.
Lula pledged to intensify the campaign to bring down such barriers. ``Our principal objective is to eliminate these astronomical subsidies,'' Lula said in the speech.
Soy & Steel
China last year became Brazil's third-largest trade partner after the U.S. and Argentina, up from No. 4 in 2002, as exports of soybeans, iron ore and steel surged.
Trade between Brazil, the world's largest soybean, beef, coffee and sugar exporter, and China has surged fourfold since 2000. Lula forecasts a 10-fold jump in trade with China during the next few years.
``Increasing trade with China is very important for Brazil,'' Roger Agnelli, chief executive of Rio de Janeiro-based Cia. Vale do Rio Doce, the world's largest iron ore producer, said in an interview in Beijing yesterday. Vale, also known as CVRD, signed an agreement to invest $300 million in two Chinese coal-mining companies and to explore construction of a $1 billion alumina plant in Brazil with Aluminum Corp. of China Ltd.
Lula is on a six-day visit to Beijing and Shanghai with 420 business executives, seeking to boost trade with China to help revive his economy from its worst economic slump in 11 years.
Yesterday, Chinese President Hu Jintao, 61, met Lula at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing and agreed to support the Brazilian's push for better trade terms at the World Trade Organization.
Lula agreed to certify part of the Chinese economy as ``free- market,'' protecting China from allegations of dumping and other unfair trade practices. Today, Lula said Brazil will pursue a free- trade agreement.
To contact the reporter on this story: Michael Smith in Beijing mssmith@bloomberg.net.
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