SAO PAULO, Brazil_Brazil may seek trade concessions from the United States instead of imposing retaliatory trade sanctions following America's failure to slash cotton subsidies ruled illegal by the World Trade Organization, a top Brazilian government official said Friday.
"We are looking to increase access of Brazilian products into the U.S., not necessarily to impose tariffs," Trade and Development Minister Luiz Furlan said.
Furlan made the comments a day after Brazil accused the United States of failing to comply with a Wednesday deadline to slash the subsidies.
Brazil will ask the 147-nation WTO for the right to retaliate primarily to keep that option available, Furlan said, but prefers to negotiate the conflict without imposing sanctions such as higher tariffs on U.S. exports to Brazil.
U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman said this week that the U.S. has taken significant steps toward complying with the WTO cotton ruling. The reforms have been sent to Congress, but the legislation has not passed, in part because of the crisis brought on by Hurricane Katrina.
Brazil won the trade case last year after alleging the United States has kept its place as the world's second-largest cotton grower and largest exporter because the U.S. government paid US$12.5 billion (?0.23 billion) in subsidies to American farmers between August 1999 and July 2003.
The United States lost its appeal of the ruling after insisting that its payments to farmers were within permitted levels and claiming many were not subsidized as defined by the WTO.
Brazil is the world's fifth-largest cotton producer, but Brazilian cotton farmers say they will increase production if the American subsidies are eliminated.
