[By Guancha Observer Network, Xiong Chaoyi] According to a report by Bloomberg on April 10, Alexandre Silveira, Brazil's Minister of Mines and Energy, believed that the trade war initiated by Trump was an "opportunity." He is seeking cooperation with companies like Huawei and BYD in the energy storage sector during his upcoming visit to China.

"Trump's aggressive stance, bluffing, and mistaken perception of international relations will create opportunities for Brazil," he said when mentioning this U.S. president during a break at a meeting held in Rio de Janeiro that day: "His way of governing America is as if he were the 'world president'."

A Brazilian official from the energy department told Bloomberg that Silveira's visit to China is scheduled for next week, coinciding with Brazil's preparations for its first public tender for battery energy storage, which is crucial for promoting renewable energy development. During his visit, Silveira plans to hold talks with State Grid Corporation of China to discuss the construction of transmission lines to address grid congestion issues. He also intends to meet executives from ByteDance's short video application, which is actively deploying data center services outside China.

Brazil's Minister of Mines and Energy, Alexandre Silveira, Bloomberg

Bloomberg pointed out that as Brazil's largest trading partner, China could potentially benefit from the trade war. Brazil is competing with the United States for dominance in the global agricultural product export market, and as one of the world's largest iron ore exporters (iron ore being a key raw material for steel production), its strategic position is particularly prominent.

In another report on the same day, Bloomberg revealed that this week, large Chinese soybean crushing enterprises have purchased a significant amount of Brazilian soybeans, with the scale and speed of these purchases being unprecedented.

According to a source familiar with the matter, during the first half of this week, Chinese importers purchased at least 40 cargoes of soybeans from Brazil, totaling at least 2.4 million tons, which is almost one-third of China's average monthly soybean crushing volume. These shipments are mostly expected to be delivered between May and July.

Meanwhile, according to Reuters reports, after China imposed a 10% to 15% tariff on American agricultural products in March, it accelerated the shift from importing soybeans from the U.S. to Brazil. This year's bumper harvest of Brazilian soybeans is expected to see a substantial increase in exports to China in the second quarter, potentially setting a historical record.

In the face of the shadow cast over the global economic outlook by Trump's tariff policies, Silveira stated that the economic impact caused by the U.S. announcement of so-called "reciprocal tariffs" might provide Petrobras, Brazil's state-owned oil company, with room to lower fuel prices. He emphasized that this measure was "crucial for forming a positive economic cycle."

Bloomberg also noted that the trade relationship between Brazil and China is deeply rooted. In 2023, Brazilian President Lula visited Huawei's Shanghai R&D center, despite opposition from the U.S., this Chinese enterprise still provided infrastructure support for Brazil's 5G network construction.

Previously, Celso Amorim, Special Advisor to the Brazilian President on International Affairs, confirmed in an interview with Folha de S.Paulo that Brazilian President Lula will conduct official visits to China and Russia in May. Amorim clarified that this move was not aimed at confronting the U.S., but rather to demonstrate the autonomy of Brazil's foreign policy and the stance of Brazil as a sovereign nation: "We are not against the U.S., but we want to show that Brazil will not submit to others and highlight our identity as a country of the Global South."

On April 9 local time, Lula told reporters at the Ninth Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States that he was concerned about unilateral decisions made by the U.S. Trump introduces new policies every day and makes different statements daily, and it is unclear how much destructive impact this will have on the economy.

He believed that from the perspective of multilateral relations, the U.S. tariffs are increasingly becoming a private grudge against China. He hoped that the U.S. and China could reconcile.

"The U.S. should sit down and negotiate instead of instigating disputes. There is no need to start a war. We all know what happened in World War I and the disasters brought by World War II, and now there may be a brewing madness of World War III." Finally, Lula said that only in this way can the whole world benefit.

This article is an exclusive contribution by the Guancha Observer Network and cannot be reproduced without permission.

Original text: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7491976913037902371/

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