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</p>The latest outbreak of creeping global protectionism is in Brazil, which announced March 8 that it intends to levy nearly USD$600 million in increased import duties on more than <ahref="http://www.strtrade.com/wti/2010/march/17/brazil_cross_retaliation_list.pdf">100 products made in the U.S. <ahref="http://www.strtrade.com/wti/2010/march/17/brazil_cross_retaliation_list.pdf">in retaliation for the United States failure to comply with a World Trade Organization (WTO) ruling against its subsidies for cotton producers and exporters.
According to <ahref="http://www.strtrade.com/wti/search_article.asp?pub=0&wti=yes&asia=&latin=yes&s earch=Brazil&keyword_article=title&starting_date=2/24/2010&ending_date=3/24/2010&company">World Trade\INTERACTIVE, the Brazilian government also plans to impose the first-ever WTO-legal <ahref="http://www.strtrade.com/wti/2010/march/17/brazil_cross_retaliation_list.pdf">cross-retaliation measures on U.S. intellectual property rights holders that could lead to more than USD$200 million in losses for U.S. companies in the pharmaceuticals, chemicals, biotechnology, and entertainment sectors.* To avoid the sanctions, the U.S. Government must settle the WTO case with Brazil before April 7.<spanid="more-29766"></span>
The Obama Administrations much-ballyhooed National Export Initiative, which is focused solely on exports and does not promote the two-way, cross-border trade and investment through which open economies have prospered, seems not to have impressed the Brazilians at all.* In fact, they announced the new tariffs just as U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke*<ahref="http://www.economist.com/business-finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15656630"> arrived in Brasilia on a tour to promote exports in the USAs 10th largest foreign market.
Meanwhile three already-negotiated Free Trade Agreements (with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea), FTAs that actually would increase American exports, sit in Washingtonun-pushed by President Obama and un-approved by Congress