In Gesture to Bolsonaro, USA Backs Brazil’s OECD Candidacy

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – In a gesture towards Jair Bolsonaro’s government, the United States will formally declare that they consider Brazil’s accession to the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) a priority.

According to sources, the Americans submitted a letter to the organization stating that they wish for Brazil to be the next country to begin the accession process.

“The US wants Brazil to become the next country to begin the process of joining the OECD. The Brazilian government is working to bring its economic policies in line with OECD standards while prioritizing its membership to strengthen its policy reforms,” said the US embassy in Brasília.

In October, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sent a document to the organization’s secretary-general, Angel Gurria, in which he said that Washington was only advocating the immediate candidatures of Argentina and Romania.

Brazil’s absence from that document led to complaints that Bolsonaro’s alignment with President Donald Trump was not yielding the expected results. Although the negative reaction in Brazil led Pompeo to say that the letter did not “accurately” represent American opinion, the lack of a more explicit endorsement deepened the criticism against the alignment with the US.

Now the formalization of support was stitched up in Washington precisely to refute the arguments that Brazil was not gaining anything in exchange for the concessions made to the Americans.

“Our decision to prioritize Brazil’s candidacy as the next country to begin the process is a natural result of the commitment reaffirmed by the Secretary of State and President Trump in October 2019,” the diplomatic mission added.

According to people following the issue, the US wants Brazil to “get in line” and occupy Argentina’s prior spot.

Until late last year, Argentina was governed by the liberal Mauricio Macri, which strengthened the claim for accession to the OECD.

With the victory of Peronist Alberto Fernández, the Americans now consider that the new authorities in Buenos Aires no longer have accession to the so-called club of rich countries as a priority. This allowed the exchange operation to take place.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is an intergovernmental economic organization with 36 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and world trade.  Most OECD members are high-income economies with a very high Human Development Index (HDI) and are regarded as developed countries.