Brazil in the Context of the Commercial War Between USA and China

Abstract

Since the start of the commercial war between the USA and China in 2018, Brazil has changed many of its previous alliances in order to become the interest representative of the USA in Latin America. After the coup d’état of 2016, Brazil has taken progressive actions in order to distance itself from the previous partners at BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) to get closer to the USA. The arrival of the new Brazilian president in 2019, a declared representative of US interests in the Latin American continent, has increased the pace of such measures. This article aims to explain the main actions taken by the USA and China in that context and how Brazil has adapted to take sides in that scenario, moving away from the BRICS group (now RICS since the B stands for Brazil) and toward the US foreign and economic policies.