Lula says that Brazil will not make an agreement with the EU without adjustment – 02/06/2023 – Market

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) said this Friday (2nd) that a free trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union will not be signed if Europeans do not accept Brazil’s conditions, at the same time that he said that the proposal current deal needs a tweak.

Lula stated that the Brazilian government does not accept the EU’s proposal for Brazil to open up the possibility of foreign participation in the government procurement sector.

The president also said that it is up to the State to guarantee the survival of the national industry, promoting competitiveness in the sector. “We have to bet on a Brazilian company”, he said during the inauguration of a new Eletra factory, national leader in sustainable public transport.

Lula drew attention to the fact that national industry once represented 30% of Brazil’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product), while today it reaches a maximum of 11%. According to the president, this scenario is the result of constant advertisements for foreign products to the detriment of national products.

“I love that Brazil participates in world trade, but when it comes to business, I prefer to do business with Brazilians, to strengthen the national industry”, declared the president.

According to Lula, to talk about industrial development, it is first necessary to propose public policies to encourage small and medium businesses.

Taking advantage of his participation in the inauguration of Eletra’s new building, Lula said that the country needs to renew its fleet of school buses, and stated that his team will talk to Eletra executives to put a project in motion for this purpose. “Our school bus fleet is very old,” he argued.

GDP IN TOP 5

Also present at the event, the vice-president and minister of Development, Industry, Commerce and Services, Geraldo Alckmin, celebrated the result of the Brazilian GDP for the first quarter, which increased by 1.9%.

According to Alckmin, this was an important achievement since economic activity in the first quarter is usually weaker.

The vice president also drew attention to the fact that the Brazilian economy in the first quarter was among the top five in the world. “The increase in the Brazilian GDP is in the top 5,” he said.

With Reuters