Brazilian President Pushes to Reduce U.S. Ethanol Import Tariff
Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said yesterday that he will push President Bush to reduce the United States’ $0.54/gallon ethanol import tariffs at a meeting later this week in Sao Paulo, where the two presidents are expected to sign an accord to spread the use of ethanol in the region during the visit.
“High tariffs placed by the U.S. on Brazilian ethanol make no sense,” Lula said during his biweekly radio program. “I think that we are close to an accord (in the Doha round) which could favor agricultural nations - principally those that don’t have the chance to compete globally,” said Lula, who also added that Bush is key to progress in the talks.
Sergio Gabrielli, the chief executive of Brazil’s state-run oil firm Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PBR), or Petrobras, said yesterday his company won’t export ethanol to the U.S. if the import tariff remains in place: “The U.S. has the world’s biggest ethanol production and its biggest gasoline consumption…But it’s practically impossible to do business in ethanol with the currently existing tariff.” Petrobras produces ethanol and also sells it domestically and to Venezuela and Nigeria; Petrobas is also in talks about major ethanol exports to Japan.