Vice President Geraldo Alckmin said that Brazil and the US will work in an engaged manner to reform the WTO| Photo: Valter Campanato/Agência Brasil

Vice President of the Republic Geraldo Alckmin, who is also Minister of Development, Industry, Commerce and Services, said this Wednesday (8) that Brazil and the United States are going to work together to promote reform and modernization in some of the mechanisms of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The negotiations took place during a meeting at the Itamaraty Palace with Ambassador Katherine Tai, trade representative of the North American country.

The meeting dealt with various bilateral and multilateral business cooperation topics, such as greater opportunities for promoting trade and investment, encouraging the construction of more resilient supply chains, the green economy, the semiconductor industry, among others.

“At the multilateral level, Brazil and the US discussed some of the challenges presented by the current international economic context and committed themselves to working in an engaged manner for the reform and modernization of the WTO”, said Alckmin.

According to a note from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the WTO reform will mainly focus on the dispute settlement mechanism, in which the Appellate Body “is paralyzed, undermining the effectiveness of the multilateral trade system”.

The two countries also pledged to revitalize and deepen the Agreement on Trade and Economic Cooperation (ATEC), contributing to the resumption of discussions on topics of common interest.

The United States is Brazil’s second main trading partner and the main source of foreign investment in the country, according to the ministry. In 2022, bilateral trade totaled US$ 88.7 billion (R$ 456 billion), growth of 26% compared to the previous year.