MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Opening the economy “would be a disaster for Brazilian industry” states Rousseff minister
Anticipating what could be policy under a second government of President Dilma Rousseff, her Trade Minister Mauro Borges told Brazilian daily Folha do Sao Paulo that opening the country to more foreign trade would be a “disaster for Brazilian industry” and lead to the “mexicanization” of the economy, in reference to the light assembly factories known as “maquiladoras” that dominate Mexico’s non-oil exports. Read full article
Comments
Disclaimer & comment rulesYes cheap manufacturing for export. What a horrible concept. Can't believe the Chinese fell for it for so long.
Sep 29th, 2014 - 09:18 am - Link - Report abuse 0India luckily avoided such a disaster and should be happy now that it's economy is 20% the size of China's.
How do these totally inept people get a voice in these countries?
Sep 29th, 2014 - 11:34 am - Link - Report abuse 0Can't they open their eyes and see the most successful countries with the richest citizens also have also have the Free-est Trade?
I hope the pig doesn't get re-elected.
She'll destroy Brazil.
This 'country' believes it should be a permanent member of the UN Security Council. A number of its latam sycophants 'believe' the same. Occasionally, the 'Western' members of the UNSC have some temporary problems. By comparison, latam 'countries' are permanently on the edge of disaster. Which latam 'country' is not a disaster? Which latam 'country' doesn't lie? Brazil wants an FTA with the EU but doesn't dare open its economy. It lies, doesn't it?
Sep 29th, 2014 - 11:52 am - Link - Report abuse 0The attitude of the ruling dead heads is really working, isn't it?
Sep 29th, 2014 - 12:06 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“Brazilian industry is mostly oriented toward the domestic market, with local manufacturers protected by high import tariffs, local content rules for government procurement contracts, subsidized credit and a wave of stimulus measures to boost output and protect jobs... The manufacturing sector is expected to contract 1.94% in 2014, according to a Brazilian Central Bank survey released last week. Furthermore, Brazil’s 2014 trade numbers moved into a slight surplus in August after hovering in negative territory through most of the year. The country’s trade surplus fell to its lowest level in over a decade in 2013, causing the country’s current account deficit to widen sharply.”
Yeah, it's working alright and when it has finished working like this Brazil will look like Argentina.
“ Asked by Folha why a trade deal with the European Union had not yet been signed, Borges said that “Brazil did its homework.”
Sep 29th, 2014 - 12:19 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Do you know how stupid this sounds ? Brasil is stuck in the politics of the Mercosur mud, Minister Borges, and is sinking deeper.
Marina “ Silva has backed further integration with the Pacific Alliance. ”
Then she has my vote.
Under the present government, Brazil will never “open up”. Simplifying it , Brazil's only realistic option for a better future is to break this self-destructing policy, by reducing import tariffs for machinery to zero, cutting the the absurd labour costs to a minimum, to reduce the “cost of Brazil” (due to enormous infrastructural inefficiency , and red tape)...With lower, competitive costs, they'll at least be going in the right direction, regarding both domestic and foreign trade.
Sep 29th, 2014 - 06:21 pm - Link - Report abuse 0http://en.mercopress.com/2014/09/29/opening-the-economy-would-be-a-disaster-for-brazilian-industry-states-rousseff-minister#comment354927: “For centuries England has relied on protection, has carried it to extremes and has obtained satisfactory results from it. There is no doubt that it is to this system that it owes its present strength. After two centuries, England has found it convenient to adopt free trade because it thinks that protection can no longer offer it anything. Very well then, Gentlemen, my knowledge of our country leads me to believe that within 200 years, when America has gotten out of protection all that it can offer, it too will adopt free trade.” (Ulysses S. Grant, president of the United States, 1868–1876, cited in A.G. Frank, Capitalism and Underdevelopment in Latin America , New York, Monthly Review Press, 1967, p. 164).
Sep 29th, 2014 - 11:54 pm - Link - Report abuse 0There are many countries that have satisfactory results from protection, most famously the US and, more recently, the PRC. I cannot think of any case where a country has lifted itself out of poverty by implementing a policy of free trade - 19th century Germany possibly?
@7 Hippy.
Sep 30th, 2014 - 11:19 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Let me remind you we are talking about Brazil, not the rest of the world, and today, not 100 years ago.
Protection may have served some countries well for certain periods of time, but in today's globalized world, protection usually translates into higher internal costs due to lack of competition, and that lack of competition results in the use of obsolete technology, and obsolete products....characteristics of backwardness. I'm not saying Brazil should just open itself up to indiscriminate free-trade, but should gradually go promoting free-trade in select areas it can afford to. For a country to go ahead, it must either import technology or create its own....if it decides to create its own, it's usually at an exhorbitant cost.... and not necessarily the best available. The automotive industry is a good example of how 'opening the economy' can be beneficial... The cars produced in Brazil in the late 80's were the same models produced in the USA or Europe, in the 70's...in other words, totally obsolete : they lacked all the technological innovations regarding safety, fuel efficiency, design etc...In 1990, Brazil did away with a lot of this exagerated protection, and 3 years later we had access to the same cars being produced worldwide....this 'opening up' occurred in many areas, one of the most important being computers and electronics, giving Brazil a much needed and welcome push towards the modern world. While Brazil continues to insist on 'protecting' itself , by either simply prohibiting imports, or imposing extremely high taxes on them, which boils down to much the same, the only effect is the increase in the cost of living for its population.
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