Brazil Raises Tariffs on 102 U.S. Goods in WTO Fight

(Bloomberg) -- Brazil will raise tariffs on 102 U.S.-made products, including cars, boats and chewing gum, for 365 days in retaliation for subsidies paid to U.S. cotton producers, Trade Minister Miguel Jorge said.

Acting on authorization by the World Trade Organization, Brazil will raise levies to between 14 percent and 100 percent, according to a list published today in the government’s Official Gazette.

The Geneva-based WTO in August ruled that Brazil may impose $294.7 million annually in sanctions on U.S. imports because the cotton subsidies violate trade regulations. The amount is the second-biggest ever authorized by the organization.

Brazil may take additional measures, according to the Gazette. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s government will also seek to impose as much as $270 million in intellectual property sanctions, Marcio Cozendey, head of economics department at the Foreign Ministry, said Feb. 9.

The U.S. has 30 days to negotiate a bilateral agreement with Brazil and avoid higher levies, Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said March 3 at a news conference with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Brasilia.

Goods now subject to higher tariffs include refrigerators, medicine, personal care products, methanol, raw cotton, auto parts, earphones, speakers, refrigerators, plastic furniture, some ovens and sunglasses.

Agricultural goods sanctioned include pears, raisins and potatoes.

This Day in Wall Street History 1818: Congress ushers in protectionism

On this day in 1818, Congress heeded President James Monroe's call to uphold the fiscal integrity of domestic industry and gave the green light to sharply protectionist tariff legislation.

Not only did the tariff hike duties on iron imports, but it also put the breaks on an anticipated decrease in the levy charged on textiles. Moreover, the tariff legislation marked another chapter in America's long romance with protectionist policies. Indeed, from the time of its birth as a nation, the United States routinely adopted legislation designed to steel its producers' power in the international marketplace.

In the years following the tariff of 1818, America's fondness for tariffs grew especially pronounced; by the 1820s, duties climbed to unprecedented levels. America's proclivity for protectionism faded by the early to mid-20th century, when the Depression and World War II prompted U.S. leaders, including President Franklin Roosevelt, to shift to a more-liberal fiscal course and open the doors to international trade.

Source: History.com