Brazil:US Medical Goods A Target In Cotton Retaliation

Brazil’s government could target medical sector products as part of its $800 million retaliation against U.S. cotton subsidies granted in a World Trade Organization ruling, Brazilian Foreign Relations Minister Celso Amorim hinted Tuesday, according to the Estado news agency.

For Amorim, Brazil’s strategy should involve using cross-sector retaliation authorized by the WTO in such a way as to “hurt” U.S. trade and force a reduction of agriculture sector subsidies in the future.

“We are going to choose the sectors that least effect us and most affect the U.S.,” he said.

Amorim said Brazil’s government would soon present a “little list” of U.S. goods, services, and patents that it believes should be subject to sanctions under the ruling.

The minister didn’t say which sectors would be chosen, but hinted that the medical products sector could be affected, noting that the country’s Health Ministry would be involved in negotiations regarding the sanctions.

He said, however, that the government would take care to avoid damaging the country’s own interests in the process.

“No one is going to create a problem in an area, for example, that affects the availability of pharmaceutical products,” he said.

Brazil has a history of targeting medical sector products in trade disputes, having in the past broken patents held by foreign companies where it deemed its interests “strategic.”

Separately Tuesday, Amorim said the country was considering opening a new trade complaint at the WTO, this time against European countries that have imposed restrictions on shipments of generic medications.

The latest WTO trade ruling, announced Monday, was the result of a case filed in 2002 against an alleged $12 billion in illegal subsidies offered by the U.S. to its cotton industry between 1999 and 2002. According to U.S. officials, Brazil initially sought sanctions worth up to $4 billion.