Brazil: Trade Partnerships

China has been Brazil's largest single trading partner for both exports and imports since around 2009, a position reinforced by strong demand for Brazilian iron ore, soybeans, crude petroleum, and other commodities. The United States ranks second on both fronts, followed by regional and European partners including Argentina, the Netherlands, and Spain. Brazil's imports lean toward refined petroleum, fertilizers, machinery, vehicle parts, pharmaceuticals, and electronics, reflecting a manufacturing base that still depends heavily on foreign capital goods and inputs.

According to World Bank and Wikipedia trade figures, China has purchased between a quarter and nearly a third of Brazil's total exports in recent years, with the United States taking roughly 11 percent, making the two countries far and away Brazil's most important markets. As a founding member of Mercosur since 1991, alongside Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay, Brazil was also central to the bloc's long-negotiated free trade agreement with the European Union, signed in January 2026 and placed under provisional application that May; as of September 2026, formal ratification by the European Parliament remained pending.

Trade relations with the United States grew tense starting in 2025, when the Trump administration imposed a baseline tariff on Brazilian goods that was later raised toward 50 percent, with an additional 25 percent tariff added in July 2026 following a US investigation into Brazilian trade practices. Despite the dispute, the United States has continued to run a trade surplus in goods with Brazil, and Brazilian exporters have sought to diversify further toward China and other markets in response.