This week President Donald Trump announced the U.S. is restoring steel and aluminum tariffs on Brazil and Argentina. That move is concerning to the Renewable Fuels Association. President and CEO Geoff Cooper says that creates a lot of uncertainty as they’ve been working to remove protectionist barriers Brazil has already put up to U.S. ethanol imports.
He says the way the Trump administration has tried to resolve trade problems has led to a lot of uncertainty for U.S. exports.
Cooper says the biofuels industry in both the U.S. and Brazil have common concerns and both want to increase demand for those fuels. He says that’s difficult to achieve however when these types of disagreements that led to the recent tariffs pop up.
From January to July of this year, the U.S. exported 5.6 million barrels of ethanol to Brazil.
