China, Brazil accelerate cooperation in agriculture, more

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By Chu Daye (Global Times) 13:49, April 18, 2025

China and Brazil have accelerated business exchanges lately, with the two countries reportedly discussing a series of agricultural purchase deals. The move is taken against the backdrop that the US has launched reckless trade tariffs, forcing China to take counter measures.

To deepen trade and economic cooperation, the China-Brazil Economic and Trade Exchange Conference was held on Wednesday in São Paulo, Brazil, news portal nfnews.com reported on Thursday.

More than 180 representatives including government officials along with business and industry association members attended the event, outlining a new blueprint for closer cooperation among S o Paulo, the Macao Special Administrative Region and Zhuhai, South China's Guangdong Province. The event focused on the economic and trade advantages of the three cities and industrial alignment. Two deals worth 300 million yuan ($40.82 million) were signed at the event.

Zhuhai proposed that all sides jointly promote the transformation of the Gaolan Port into an important trade hub connecting Brazil with the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area through strengthening cooperation in grain and energy trade.

The event was accompanied by a number of other business exchanges this week between China and Brazil, which have seen an enhanced level of economic cooperation in recent years.

Agriculture officials from China and Brazil are gathering in Brasília this week as US' prohibitive tariffs prioritize China's need to seek alternative sources of soybeans and beef, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported on Wednesday.

Brazilian government officials said that the meetings focused on Brazilian exports of agricultural products, such as soybeans and beef, and "how to address the gap left by US tariffs," according to the SCMP.

Other areas of cooperation include infrastructure. A railway project linking Brazil to Chancay Port in Peru was also discussed, the SCMP reported, citing Joao Villaverde, Brazil's secretary for institutional coordination at the Ministry of Planning.

Amid the global headwinds caused by the US government's steep tariffs, countries naturally intensify mutually beneficial trade and investment cooperation, an effective way to hedge the risks, a Chinese analyst noted.

"Brazil could play an important role in China's agricultural import diversification drive, a process that started years ago with an aim to enhance the country's food security," Zhou Zhiwei, an expert on Latin American studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Thursday.

Latin American countries, including Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, have huge potential to tap when it comes to agricultural output and export, Zhou said.

"As a country with a population of 1.4 billion with limited arable land, China has a rigid demand for soybeans as a source of plant protein," an executive of a large aquaculture company based in Guangdong Province told the Global Times on Thursday. The company imports soybeans to produce feed for fish and shrimp.

Since the path to buy soybeans from the US is upended because of the tariffs, Chinese importers are now looking for alternative sources.

Analysts said that as Washington's imposition of tariffs cause serious chaos and disruption in global supply chains, China's efforts in enhancing cooperation with other trading partners enhances its reputation as an anchor of stability for global commerce.

The US government's tariff policy also drew the ire of the farmers in the country.

"Our grave concern is we could permanently lose a big chunk of our export market that we are dependent on for our production," Caleb Ragland, president of the American Soybean Association, said in an NPR report on April 14. The report said that China consumes more than half of all soybeans exported from the US, and the tariffs are hitting US' soybean industry hard.

In response to a reporter's inquiry about China-Brazil aviation cooperation as the cost of Boeing jets surged significantly higher in the current situation, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said on Wednesday that Brazil is an aerospace heavyweight, and China attaches high importance to the effort of carrying out practical cooperation with Brazil in aerospace and other areas.

In addition to Brazil, Chinese officials visited Argentina this week, which is also a major agricultural producer.

A Chinese delegation led by Zhang Zhili, the vice minister of agriculture and rural affairs, held talks with Argentine agricultural authorities in Buenos Aires on April 14, according to a post on the ministry's website on Wednesday. During his visit, Zhang conducted research on enterprises involved in dairy processing, grain and oil trade, and biotechnology, the post said.

(Web editor: Tian Yi, Zhong Wenxing)