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U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday that the U.S. will start negotiations with Brazil in order to avoid the Brazilian retaliation over the cotton subsidies matter.
Last year, the World Trade Organization's (WTO) Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) authorized Brazil to apply sanctions of 830 million U.S. dollars to the U.S. over the illegal subsidies granted by the U.S. government to its cotton producers, which damaged the international trade.
The decision put an end to eight years of dispute between the two countries.
It was the first time a U.S. representative admitted to giving compensations to Brazil in order to avoid the trade sanctions. Brazil is to release the final list of the sanctioned U.S. products on March 8.
According to Brazilian Foreign Relations Minister Celso Amorim, with whom Clinton met on Wednesday in Brasilia, after the final list's release the two countries will have one month to negotiate and end the impasse.
"We have time to solve this in a peaceful and productive manner, " said Secretary Clinton. "The trade between our countries is so big that we hope we can solve this matter."
Minister Amorim also said that he does not believe the U.S. would try to counter-retaliate.
In the meeting, Minister Amorim and Secretary Clinton also discussed the Brazilian position over Iran's nuclear program. The U.S. is pressuring Brazil to support sanctions against Iran, but the Brazilian government is adamant on defending Iran's right to have a nuclear program, as long as it is used for peaceful purposes.
05 March, 2010 by admin