USA halts environmental negotiations with Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Almost 2 months after president Joe Biden’s climate summit, negotiations on the environment between Brazil and the United States have been suspended. The halt in negotiations comes in the wake of the increase in deforestation in the Amazon and the Federal Police operation that targeted Environment Minister Ricardo Salles.

The last technical meeting between negotiators of the Bolsonaro and Biden administrations occurred in early May. At the time, Foreign and Environment Ministry officials held a videoconference with Jonathan Pershing, advisor to John Kerry, Special Envoy for Climate Action.

The goal was to try to find an American financing model for environmental preservation efforts in Brazil. At the end of the videoconference, the participants agreed that they would hold further talks in the coming weeks, but there has been no request for a scheduling by the parties since then.

Since the Biden administration’s inauguration, a total of 7 videoconferences on the environment have taken place between the two countries.

Kerry participated directly in 2 of them – Salles was in both meetings, joined in one by ex-Foreign Minister Ernesto Araújo, and in the other by the new head of Itamaraty, Carlos França. The remaining 5 meetings were held at the technical level.

Salles was also present in some of the technical video calls. In one of them he presented a slide with the image of a dog wagging its tail in front of roasted chicken skewers, in an allegory of Brazil’s eagerness for international donations.

The Foreign Ministry said that the technical meetings are not “formal negotiations”, but rather “exploratory exercises.” It also stated that there is no “predefined calendar” for the meetings. The U.S. embassy did not reply.

On Thursday, June 17, Foreign Minister França had a video conference with U.S. diplomatic chief Antony Blinken.

According to the Department of State, Blinken discussed Brazil’s climate goals with França, “double funding to eliminate illegal deforestation by 2030, and the need to underpin these goals with specific near-term implementation steps.”

In a string of Twitter messages, the Brazilian Foreign Ministry said that the two “dealt with converging priorities of both chancelleries: health diplomacy, economic recovery, and promotion of sustainable development.”

According to people monitoring the matter, there was no signaling on the resumption of the round of negotiations between Kerry’s aides, the Foreign and the Environment Ministries.

A little more than 10 days after the last technical meeting, still in May, the Federal Police launched an operation against Salles and the now removed president of IBAMA (Brazilian Institute for Environment and Renewable Natural Resources) Eduardo Bim. The police are investigating suspected crimes of corruption, administrative advocacy, perjury, and
facilitation of smuggling, allegedly committed by public officials and entrepreneurs in the timber industry.

The operation involves information passed on by the U.S. government, which advised the Brazilian authorities about a cargo of illegal wood seized in the U.S. port of Savannah (Georgia).

Salles denies any wrongdoing. Since the operation was launched, the Minister’s agenda has registered many days of internal dispatches and no official appointments. Sources said it was unclear if Kerry decided to suspend the negotiations because of the investigation into Salles.

However, experts believe that the Biden administration may have considered it a constraint to negotiate with a Minister accused of involvement in a timber smuggling scheme – even more so in an investigation launched on U.S. soil.

The Minister’s situation is not the only factor causing mistrust in Washington.

At the Climate Summit held in late April, Bolsonaro vowed to eliminate illegal deforestation in Brazil by 2030 and to double the funds available for environmental enforcement in the country.

“Command and control measures are part of the answer. Despite the government’s budget limitations, I have determined the reinforcement of environmental agencies, doubling the funds for enforcement actions,” Bolsonaro said at the time.

However, the day after the summit, Bolsonaro sanctioned the 2021 Budget that cut R$240 (US$47) million from the Ministry of Environment. In late May, the president’s office sent a bill to Congress to increase the Ministry’s budget by R$270 million.

Meanwhile, Amazon rainforest deforestation figures have set records, increasing skepticism among Biden’s team regarding Bolsonaro’s real commitment to fulfilling his promise.

May was the worst month for deforestation alerts in the Amazon in recent years, according to INPE (National Institute for Space Research) data. During the period, alerts were issued for an area corresponding to 1,391 km². The worsening indices made Bolsonaro renew the presence of military forces in efforts to protect the biome.

In the negotiations with the Biden administration, Salles had been asking for U.S. donations to guarantee the preservation of the Amazon. In the last rounds, he requested US$1 billion to be spent on command and control operations and payment for environmental services. Washington had been demanding results from the Bolsonaro government before allocating larger sums.

In a first counterproposal, the Biden administration signaled a contribution of US$5 million, an amount Salles deemed insufficient.

In addition to the suspension of environmental negotiations, the U.S. has sent signals that are causing apprehension among Bolsonaro’s foreign policy advisors.

The American ambassador to Brazil, Todd Chapman, announced his retirement on June 10. Although the diplomat alleged personal reasons, his departure after a little over a year in the post reinforced the feeling in the Foreign Ministry that Biden wants to change his approach to the Bolsonaro government.

Chapman had been criticized by members of the Democratic Party for an excessively close relationship with the Bolsonaro family.

People who monitor the matter believe that the chosen candidate should have strong credentials in the environmental area. They also believe that John Kerry should be one of the main aides Biden consults before deciding on the envoy to Brasília.

In addition, the Foreign Ministry has been following with concern the renewal of a special import mechanism of the U.S. government, which, according to sources, may become another point of pressure on Brazil.

The U.S. Congress is in the process of reactivating the SGP (General System of Preferences), a program that benefits developing countries with zero import tax on certain goods. Brazil is one of the main GSP beneficiaries, with exports of about US$2.3 billion in 2019.

During the vote on renewing the program in the U.S. Senate, lawmakers set conditions for formulating the new list of beneficiary countries. Among the requirements added is compliance with environmental laws and regulations and the absence of serious human rights violations. The U.S. House of Representatives has yet to confirm the vote.

The new requirements do not mean that Brazil will necessarily be excluded from the group of beneficiaries, since the task is up to the Executive branch. But in practice, senators have given the Biden administration a reason that can be used to penalize Brazil should Washington deem it necessary.

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