Lawmakers alarmed by reports US envoy told Brazil he could help re-elect Trump

RIO DE JANEIRO Members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee said on Friday they were extremely alarmed by claims the US Ambassador to Brazil had signaled to Brazilian officials that they could help get President Trump re-elected by changing their trade policies.

In a letter sent on Friday afternoon, Committee Chairman Eliot L. Engel demanded that Ambassador Todd Chapman produce all documents that refer to or relate to discussions he has had with Brazilian officials these days. recent weeks about their country’s tariffs on ethanol, a major agricultural export for Iowa, a potential swing state in the US presidential election.

The committee’s letter was sent in response to reports published this week in Brazilian media that Mr. Chapman, a career diplomat, had made it clear to Brazilian officials that they could boost Mr. Trumps’ electoral chances in the ‘Iowa if Brazil lifted its ethanol tariffs.

Eliminating tariffs would give the Trump administration a welcome trade victory to present to struggling ethanol producers in Iowa, where the president is in a tight race with his Democratic rival, Joseph R. Biden Jr.

The House committee said it was opening an investigation into the matter.

The State Department said in an emailed statement Friday afternoon that the allegations suggesting that Ambassador Chapman asked Brazilians to support a specific US candidate are false.

The statement added: The United States has long focused on reducing tariff barriers and will continue to do so.

The O Globo newspaper published an article on Thursday saying that Chapman had stressed the importance for the Brazilian government of keeping Donald Trump in power. Mr. Bolsonaro, a far-right leader, has made closer alignment with the Trump administration his top foreign policy priority.

A competing newspaper, Estado, published an article on Friday claiming its reporters independently confirmed that the ambassador framed his argument against the tariffs in partisan terms. The article says Brazilian officials who met with Chapman rejected the appeal, refusing to be drawn into the US presidential battle.

Neither article cited its sources. But Alceu Moreira, a Brazilian congressman who heads the agriculture caucus, told the New York Times in an interview that Chapman made repeated references to the election calendar during a recent meeting between the two over ethanol.

He said Chapman had not explicitly urged him to help the Trump campaign or bring up the contest in Iowa, but that the U.S. ambassador had linked the ethanol issue to the election.

He said: You know, we have an election in the United States, and that’s very important, Mr. Moreira said, recounting their conversation. He said that four or five times.

In the letter, Mr. Engel said that if Mr. Chapman had pressured Brazilians to help the Trump campaign, it could be a violation of the Hatch Act, a 1939 law that prohibits federal officials from being engage in certain partisan activities.

These statements are wholly inappropriate for an American ambassador, Mr. Engel, a Democrat from New York, wrote in the letter, which was also signed by Representative Albio Sires, who chairs the Western Hemisphere subcommittee. , civil security and trade.

The letter called on Mr. Chapman to reassure Congress and the American people that our Ambassador to Brazil truly represents the interests of the United States and not the narrow political interests of President Trump. “

Promoting favorable conditions for US industries abroad is a top priority for US ambassadors. But US diplomats are reminded during election years to steer clear of any action that could reasonably be interpreted as partisan.

The committees letter also challenged Mr. Chapmans’ defense of a video promoting the Trump campaign that Eduardo Bolsonaro, a federal lawmaker and son of President Jair Bolsonaro, posted on Twitter on Sunday.

The video ends with a slide that says Trump 2020: The Big Win.

Asked about the video in an interview with O Globo, Mr Chapman said he saw no problem with Eduardo Bolsonaros’ endorsement.

I am a great defender of free speech, Mr. Chapman told the newspaper. And everyone is free to say who he likes and against whom he chooses; I’m not going to tell someone that they can’t speak for or against my president.

Mr. Engel and Mr. Sires, a Democrat from New Jersey, said the ambassador should have responded differently.

While Mr. Bolsonaro has the right to speak freely, it is simply not appropriate for officials in any branch of government to promote candidate campaigns in the United States, members of Congress wrote. We frankly believe you should know better.

Eduardo Bolsonaro is the rare Brazilian official to have openly supported lowering ethanol prices for American sellers. In a video he released last September, he said taking a hit on ethanol would be a boon for Brazilian meat and sugar exporters by improving the chances of a free trade deal between the two. country.

It could bring so many benefits to us as Brazilians, said young Mr. Bolsonaro, a staunch supporter of Mr. Trump who wore a Make Brazil Great Again baseball cap during a year-round White House visit. last.

The United States has long pushed Brazil to lower ethanol tariffs. These talks have gained a new sense of urgency in recent months, as the coronavirus pandemic has led to a drop in demand and US ethanol sellers have been pressed by the trade dispute between Beijing and Washington.

Currently, US ethanol companies can sell up to 750 million liters of ethanol in Brazil per year without paying tariffs. All sales above are subject to a 20% tax. The Brazilian government raised the duty-free cap to 600 million liters last September, a move intended to give Brazilian sugar producers better access to the US market.

Mr. Trump hailed the move, calling it a big step forward for our farmers.

But Washington failed to gain access to sugar, which made Brazilians embittered.

The current pricing framework for ethanol will expire in August. If the two countries fail to come to an agreement, Brazil will apply a 20% tax on all ethanol imports, a blow to an industry that advocates for the government bailout.

Mr Moreira, the Brazilian congressman who heads the agricultural caucus, said he told Chapman that Brazilian politicians also have political considerations to take into account, given the upcoming municipal elections in September. Ethanol producers in the northeastern states of Brazil would not look at the tariff rules at all, which put them at a competitive disadvantage.

Is the ethanol producer very important from an electoral standpoint? Yes, very important, Mr Moreira said. We love the American people very much, but we love our people more.

Congressman Arnaldo Jardim, who heads a Brazilian congressional bloc that supports ethanol producers, said Chapman negotiated with a sense of urgency as the deadline approached.

Let’s just say he puts pressure on Brazilian officials, Jardim said, adding that he had not personally met the ambassador on the matter, but spoke regularly with several officials who did. He says this is paramount for the United States and paramount for Trump.

Orlando Ribeiro, who heads the trade and international relations department at Brazil’s agriculture ministry, said negotiators had hoped to reach an agreement on ethanol tariffs before the August deadline that would take into account interests of all stakeholders.

Other than that, he said he was concerned that Mr. Trump and Mr. Bolsonaro could strike a deal over the phone at the last minute.

What could happen is that on the eve, Trump could call Bolsonaro and decide to lift all tariffs, he said.

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