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The Foreign Trade Secretary of Brazil's Ministry of Development, Industry, and Foreign Trade, Ivan Ramalho, affirmed that the regulation of safeguard mechanisms against imports of Chinese products does not mean their immediate application by the Brazilian government.
Sectors that feel threatened must submit a petition for the evaluation of the Ministry's Department of Trade Protection (Decom). Ivan Ramalho also mentioned that the safeguard regulation process, as established in the China's Protocol of Accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), already anticipates negotiations among involved countries. Ramalho explained that the moment Decom receives, from a given sector, a petition for investigation, and for a possible application of safeguards against Chinese products, a consultation process between both governments begins, which may lead to understandings avoiding the safeguard application. If countries don't reach an agreement, and Decom acknowledges that the sector is indeed being threatened, the process will go to the Chamber of Foreign Trade (Camex), which is responsible for the final decision on the safeguard application. Decrees announced by the Brazilian government will be in effect following publication at the Nation's official daily publication (Diário Oficial da União). Ivan Ramalho reaffirmed that the Brazilian government's decision was motivated by the expressive increase in imports of Chinese-origin products - 58.3% in this year's first quarter, when compared to the same period of last year. According to Ramalho, this growth was caused by the Brazilian industry's purchase of cellular phone components. Between January and April, Brazilian exports to China increased only 3.9%. The Secretary explains that this performance is due to the fact that Brazil sold less soy and iron ore to China, which are the main products exported to that country. He evaluates, however, that Brazilian exports must still grow this year. "From now on, with a greater participation of both soy and iron ore, as well as other products, exports will grow again at more expressive levels," said the Secretary, who participated on the 2nd Year of the Brazil-China Business Forum, in São Paulo. Agência Brasil
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