Delegations from Brazil and the United States met in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Monday, October 27, 2025, to begin negotiations on the 50% tariffs imposed by the US on Brazilian products. The meeting follows the encounter between Presidents Lula and Donald Trump the previous day on the sidelines of the Asean summit. The parties agreed on a meeting schedule and plan a Brazilian visit to Washington in early November.
The technical meeting took place on the morning of October 27 in Kuala Lumpur, shortly after the encounter between Presidents Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Donald Trump on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit. For Brazil, participants included Foreign Affairs Minister Mauro Vieira; MDIC Executive Secretary Márcio Rosa; and Ambassador Audo Faleiro from the Presidential Special Advisory. The US team was led by Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
According to an Itamaraty statement, the delegations began dialogue on the tariff measures adopted by the US. Vieira stated that the teams set a meeting schedule to discuss a satisfactory agreement, focusing on the most affected sectors. "In the meeting, we agreed to work to build a satisfactory agreement for both parties in the coming weeks," the chancellor said.
The Brazilian government plans to send a delegation to Washington in the first week of November, possibly led by Ministers Fernando Haddad (Finance), Geraldo Alckmin (MDIC), and Vieira himself, to learn the US demands, which have not yet been formally presented. Lula expressed optimism: "I am convinced that in a few days we will have a definitive solution." Trump praised the "great meeting" but was cautious: "I don't know if anything will happen, but we'll see. They would like to close a deal."
The 50% tariffs were imposed by the US in response to the trial of former President Jair Bolsonaro for an attempted coup, with sanctions on officials like Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes under the Magnitsky Act. Brazil is considering yielding on the 18% tariff on US ethanol imports in exchange for removing the additional 40% surcharges on Brazilian coffee and beef, sectors where the country is the main US supplier. Ethanol producers, especially in the Northeast, oppose the measure.
