Brazil-US links improving in Biden administration despite close Trump-Bolsonaro ties, say ambassadors
Diplomatic and trade ties between the US and Brazil have improved despite the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and a change in American administrations, according to senior US and Brazilian officials.
Brazil's current President, Jair Bolsonaro, was considered one of former US President Donald Trump's closest allies abroad.
Bolsonaro, for example, was one of the last heads of state to acknowledge Joe Biden's electoral victory, and for months repeated Trump's baseless assertion that the US election was stolen.
Biden excludes Brazil from tour and deepens Bolsonaro's isolation
Speaking at an event Tuesday organized by the World Affairs Council of Atlanta, current US ambassador to Brasilia Todd Chapman said that the partnership between the two countries remains "alive and well" despite Bolsonaro's close relationship with Trump.
"Of course, former President Trump and President Bolsonaro had a close relationship. They spoke often and came from similar points of view on a wide range of issues," he said. "But we are used to working through changes of administration."
Chapman added that the relationship between the US and Brazil - which dates back to Brazil's declaration of independence in 1822 - has also been "positive and construction".
"But it was always one that we thought could have been a lot better," he said. "We saw a lot of that happen between former President Trump and President Bolsonaro."
During his time as Vice President during the administration of President Barack Obama, Biden travelled several times to Brazil, where Chapman credits him with helping "build bridges" at a time in which US-Brazil relations were strained during the administration of Dilma Rousseff.
US ambassador to Brasilia Todd Chapman
"Our President knows Brazil better than any incoming President in our nation's history, and that's a good thing for us," he said.
The most promising aspect of the US-Brazil relationship, according to Chapman, is trade. The US is the largest investor in trade, with statistics from Brazil's Central Bank indicating that US investment in Brazil tops $140 billion, compared to $56 billion from Spain and $28 billion from China.
Additionally of all American venture capital coming into Latin America is centered in Brazil - a number which has doubled repeatedly over the last three years, including 2020.
"US investor interest in Brazil remains very high," Chapman said. "Brazil is the market for venture capital, for FinTech, and a whole range of issues of interest to US investors."
While Chapman acknowledged that China unseated the US as Brazil's greatest trading partner by volume about a decade ago, he noted that the vast majority of Brazilian exports to China are raw materials, primarily soy beans, corn and iron ore.
"But over half of the products shipped to the US are finished products," he said. "When it comes to job generation, we know that what creates jobs is now raw goods, but manufacturing. That's the kind of trade we want to pursue."
Another speaker at the event was Brazil's ambassador to Washington, Nestor Forster Jr, who assumed the post of ambassador in December 2020.
In his remarks, Forster said that he does not believe Brazil has "received due credit" for its handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. The ambassador himself suffered from Covid early in 2020, although he noted that no other cases have been reported among Brazil's diplomatic staff in the US.
"If you think of the number of cases and a fatalities as a proportion of the population, it's not as bad as it looks," he claimed. "It has been a challenge for a health system."
To date, over 436,000 people have died as a result of Covid-19 in. Brazil, with over 15.6 million cases.
"There are 38,000 vaccination posts around our very big country," he said. "We're doing everything we can."
Ambassador Forster added that he hopes that the Biden administration will help Brazil secure more vaccines. Earlier this week, Biden announced that the US would share at least 20 million doses of vaccine by the end of next month, in addition to 60 million that he had already committed to sharing by July 4.
At the moment, Brazil, is approaching approximately 1 million doses administered each day, with the capacity to ramp up to 2.4 million, the ambassador said.
"We think Brazil should be up on the list, for health considerations and others," he said.