Bruno Bocchini
Reporter - Agência Brasil

Brasília - The decision announced last Wednesday (17) by the United States Department of Commerce to levy a surtax on orange juice imports from Brazil was considered "lamentable" by the Brazilian government. In a note released by the Ministry of Foreign Relations on Friday (19), the Brazilian government declared that it received the US announcement with "bewilderment."

"The Brazilian government considers it lamentable that the Brazilian product, recognized as highly competitive on the international market, has become the object of another restrictive trade measure, on top of the already existing specific import tax of US$ 418 per ton," the note states.

The text informs that the Brazilian government and the country's private sector will conduct a "painstaking" analysis of what led the United States to impose the measure, in order to determine whether the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO) were "fully" observed by that country.

The announcement by the US Department of Commerce informed that Brazilian orange juice imports are liable to preliminary antidumping tariffs of between 24.62% and 60.29%.

The Department of Commerce decision was taken at the request of American companies that accuse Brazilian orange juice exporters of practicing dumping. "Dumping" is characterized as selling goods abroad for less than their domestic market price, in order to gain markets, find an outlet for oversupply, or eliminate competitors.

Translation: David Silberstein