RIO DE JANEIRO, October 16. /TASS/. The Brazilian and US authorities have created conditions for the restoration of relations after the Latin American nation’s leadership managed to focus the White House's attention on bilateral economic issues, Brazilian Finance Minister Fernando Haddad said.
"The nature [of relations] has changed. I don’t know yet what prospects await us but I believe that we have opened up a path to warming relations by separating the political aspect from the economic one," CNN Brasil quoted him as saying.
According to the broadcaster, a meeting between Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will take place at the White House later today. The top Brazilian diplomat plans to discuss Washington’s tariffs on Brazilian goods. The meeting will come amid ongoing talks between the two countries’ leaders, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Donald Trump, who held a phone call earlier in October and agreed to maintain contact.
The US introduced tariffs on Brazilian goods in early August. Some of the tariffs - primarily those on coffee and meat products - stand at 50%. However, Washington granted tariff waivers to Brazilian cellulose, aircraft parts, rare-earth metals and orange juice. In July, the Brazilian president vowed to respond in kind to the US tariffs, but later, he expressed hope that the country’s authorities would be able to ensure a review of the tariffs through talks.