Ricardo Salles says that Brazil should have 'given in' to avoid US tariffs: 'It was all or nothing'

Ricardo Salles during an event in Piracicaba Victor Hugo Bittencourt/EPTV Candidate for the Senate for São Paulo for the Novo Party, federal deputy Ricardo Salles criticized the Lula government in the conduct of negotiations with the United States in relation to the 25% tariff on Brazilian products. The tariff, which begins to be applied this Wednesday (22), was announced last week, following a trade investigation conducted by the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR). ? The measure was adopted based on Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, a mechanism used by the American government to investigate practices considered harmful to the country's trade. Click here to follow the g1 Piracicaba channel on WhatsApp During an event for the metallurgical sector in Piracicaba (SP), this Tuesday (21), Salles stated that Brazil should have given in in exchange for not adopting the tariff. "Brazil needed to negotiate better with the United States and not create a barrier saying, 'look, I'm against the tariff'. You can be against the tariff, in fact, we are totally against the tariff, but that's what negotiation is, you give in on something to receive something else. The stance that the Lula government took was one of non-negotiation, it was an absolute counterpoint, almost wanting the tariff to come so that it could exploit this politically." "And you, with a government from a country much larger than ours, it's not worth opposing it. You have to really negotiate, knowing that you will lose some things, but you can win others. And the impression we have, and several people are saying this, that if they participated more in these negotiations, is that Brazil went for all or nothing with the United States", he added. The candidate also refuted the idea that right-wing Brazilian politicians had worked in favor of the tariffs with the President of the United States, Donald Trump. "I don't think there was an advocacy in favor of tariffs. The simple fact that there is a political alignment, I would say, between President Trump and the Brazilian right, does not mean that the right worked for tariffs. What I notice is that, although there were meetings between Brazil and the United States, they were meetings with little negotiation, a lot of opposition."