Brazil Has Lost R$3.5 Billion in Trade Balance with USA and Israel

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The two countries most aligned with the government of Jair Bolsonaro and with the greatest influence in the chess of world geopolitics have caused losses in trade to Brazil so far in 2019.

From January and August of this year, the Brazilian trade balance was negative by US$352 million (R$1.4 billion) and US$519 million, respectively, with the United States and Israel. In total transactions with both, Brazil has lost US$871 million.

In relation to European countries with nationalist and far-right governments, such as Italy, Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic, the difference between exports and imports is also unfavorable to Brazil. Only “friendly” South Americans have made a positive contribution.

The country that most benefited from trade with Brazil was Benjamin Netanyahu’s Israel, of whom Bolsonaro is an ally in the Middle East. The difference between exports and imports in the first eight months of the year was negative by US$519 million in the Brazilian side. The “shortfall” was greater than in the same period in 2018 when the balance was negative by US$446 million.

In April this year, the Brazilian President visited Israel and, demonstrating his international support for the country, visited the Wailing Wall – one of the most sacred symbols of Judaism – alongside Netanyahu, something unprecedented for a Brazilian head of state since the area is also being claimed by Palestine.

The United States, one of Brazil’s main allies in world geopolitics, has “profited” US$352 million from Brazil by August. The trade balance with the Americans has greatly varied in recent years. In the first eight months of 2018, the number of Brazilian imports surpassed exports even further, and the country lost US$839 million.

In the previous year, in 2017, the balance was positive for Brazil: US$922 million. In 2015 and 2016, it was the Americans who earned more dollars: US$2.1 billion and US$543 million, respectively.

After more than a decade with a foreign policy aligned with emerging countries, such as those of the BRICS Bloc (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) the country has reconnected with the USA with Bolsonaro in power.

The president of the United States, Donald Trump, has already pledged to support Brazil‘s accession to the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development), for instance. In exchange, Brazil would renounce its status as a developing nation in the WTO (World Trade Organization).

The data are from the Ministry of Industry, Foreign Trade, and Services and have been verified on the Comex Stat portal, the official website of Brazil’s foreign trade statistics agency.

Europeans aligned with Brazil

In Europe, the figures also show trade balance losses with Italy, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. Respectively, between January and August, Brazil had a “loss” of US$503 million, US$158 million and US$226 million.

Poland is the exception. The Eastern European country’s imports exceeded its exports to Brazil, which in this case had a positive balance of US$146 million. Despite this, the figure was lower than the US$171 million in 2018. Polish President Andrzej Duda met with Bolsonaro in Brasília in January this year and said the country shares the “same values” as his government.

Positive balance in South America

With neighboring countries aligned with Bolsonaro government, Brazil benefits from a favorable trade balance. Colombia, Paraguay, and Chile yielded US$1.1 billion, US$721 million and US$1.3 billion to the country, respectively.

In recent years, Brazil has always exported more than it has imported from all three countries. However, in the case of Paraguay and Chile, the figures were higher over the same period last year. While the positive balance for Paraguay fell from US$1.2 billion to US$721 million, for Chile it fell from US$1.7 billion to US$1.3 billion.

Colombia was the only country that began importing more than exporting this year, boosting the Brazilian trade balance. In 2018 the Brazilian “profit” between January and August had been US$603 million. The rise in the period was of US$480 million.

Colombia, governed by Iván Duque, has been one of Bolsonaro’s main allies in South America, particularly with regard to the political and economic crisis in Venezuela. Neither country acknowledges the government of Nicolás Maduro and regards opposition leader Juan Guaidó as the interim Venezuelan president.