Publication

On December 21, 2009, Brazil announced that it was authorized by the WTO to impose trade retaliation against up to $829.3 million in U.S. goods in 2010 in a long-running dispute over U.S. cotton subsidies. Brazil states that it may levy duties of up to 100% on a preliminary list of 222 goods of U.S. origin valued at $561 million, then apply the remaining value of $268.3 million in cross-retaliation (i.e., retaliatory countermeasures in sectors outside of the trade in goods, most notably in the area of U.S. copyrights and patents). Brazil has not yet finalized its decision to actually impose retaliatory measures; however, Brazil has said that it would announce a final list of potential retaliatory products in February 2010, when U.S. trade data becomes available.