Presidents of Brazil and Chile seek to expand bilateral trade
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said that investors from Brazil and Chile should deepen trade relations to boost the growth of the two economies.
At the closing event of the Brazil–Chile Business Forum in Brasília on Tuesday (Apr. 22), he encouraged Brazilian businesspeople to import more products from Chile to balance trade.
“Chilean and Brazilian investors need to know that a good deal is a deal where everyone wins. And as Latin America’s largest economy, Brazil needs to understand that it must be flexible so that things can happen. It’s not about doing favors; it’s about being fair,” he said alongside Chilean President Gabriel Boric, who is on an official visit to Brazil.
The Brazilian leader also stressed that Latin American countries should not just wait for help from richer countries like the US and the European Union to become rich. “We want to become rich from our own capacity, from our own investment,” he said.
President Boric mentioned Chile’s socio-economic stability, which makes the country a great destination for investment. “Chile is a reliable partner—a stable, safe country that respects the rules of the game and with which it is possible to do mutually beneficial business.”
Trade war
President Boric also assured that the country does not any trade war, recalling President Lula’s words about the tariff hikes between the US and China: “We Brazilians do not like this dispute triggered by [US President Donald] Trump. I don’t think it’s convenient for the US, it’s not convenient for China, and it’s not convenient for any country in the world,” President Lula had declared.
“We believe that trade is about bringing people together, about generating wealth and sharing it in the best way. When you opt for protectionism, the losers are not the political elites—they’re the people, the families, the small producers,” President Boric stated.
Bilateral trade
According to Brazil’s National Confederation of Industry, Brazil is Chile’s largest trading partner in South America, predominantly in industrial goods. Chile, in turn, is Brazil’s seventh largest trading partner, ing for 2.1 percent of Brazil’s trade flow.
In 2024, commerce between the two countries totaled $11.7 billion, with $6.7 billion in Brazilian exports to Chile and $5 billion in imports.
