Trade Defense
Trade defense measures can be used to neutralize negative impacts on the domestic industry resulting from dumped imports, subsidized imports, or import surges.
The rules for the use of these measures were established within the scope of the WTO by the Anti-Dumping Agreement (AA), the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (ASCM), and the Agreement on Safeguards (AS). Compliance with these rules is essential to ensure that the measures are applied in a transparent and proportionate manner so as not to generate additional distortions to trade.
Itamaraty works in coordination with other government bodies to assist Brazilian exporters that may be affected by trade defense investigations conducted by other countries. The Brazilian government’s efforts have contributed to the recent successes in dumping investigations conducted by Peru, Argentina, and South Korea, preventing the application of measures against Brazilian exports. Similarly, it was possible to achieve the non-application of safeguard measures that could generate serious damages to the Brazilian export sector, as in the recent cases of Turkey's investigations on steel, and Colombia's on cardboard sheets. As a member of Brazil’s Foreign Trade Chamber (CAMEX), Itamaraty also monitors trade defense and public interest investigations conducted in Brazil and participates in the decision-making process for the adoption of these measures.
Brazil also negotiates disciplines on trade defense in bilateral or regional trade agreements. Besides having clauses that reaffirm the existing obligations in the WTO agreements, regional trade agreements provide for the possibility of using bilateral safeguards. This instrument is restricted to preferential trade. In case of a surge in preferential imports causing injury to the domestic industry, bilateral safeguards can be applied, subject to certain criteria, to remedy the adverse effect on the domestic production chain. Bilateral safeguards are temporary instruments that offer a safety net to the domestic industry during the period of tariff liberalization resulting from bilateral and regional agreements.