Brazil Presses US on Tariffs While Accelerating Critical Minerals Strategy

Brazil’s Development Minister Márcio Elias Rosa said the country will not abandon the negotiation table with the United States as it tries to avert extra tariffs on Brazilian exports. The deadline for a USTR decision is July 15, and the minister warned that political manoeuvrings by members of former President Jair Bolsonaro’s family are “polluting the debate.” Brazil has held four high‑level virtual meetings with USTR representatives, discussing issues ranging from transnational crime cooperation to data‑center attraction and patent protection. The US investigation, launched under Section 301, alleges unfair practices such as the Pix payment system.

At the same time, the Brazilian government is scaling up its critical‑minerals agenda. The National Mining Plan 2050 (PNM 2050) aims to raise Brazil’s share of global critical‑minerals production from 8.3 % to 12.2 % by 2050, targeting minerals like lithium, rare earths, nickel and copper. A new technical committee coordinated by the Casa Civil will oversee sovereignty over these resources, while the Mercosur bloc has approved a roadmap for regional cooperation on critical minerals. Industry leaders, including IBRAM president Pablo Cesário and Mining Minister Alexandre Silveira, stress the need to move beyond raw‑material export to domestic processing, value‑addition, and industrialization. Vice‑President Geraldo Alckmin also called for “adding value instead of exporting commodities.”