American Product Advantages Versus Brazil

Below are the top 10 goods for which the US enjoyed a higher dollar value from its exports to Brazil after subtracting what it spent on Brazilian imports for those same types of products. Technically, a country’s exports minus imports is known as “net exports” which can be a positive amount (indicating a surplus) or a negative number (indicating a deficit).

1. Processed petroleum oils: US$4.1 billion surplus win for the US
2. Phone system devices: $1.1 billion
3. Petroleum gases: $960.6 million
4. Medication mixes in dosage: $959.4 million
5. Integrated circuits/microassemblies: $952.2 million
6. Packaged insecticides/fungicides/herbicides: $926.3 million
7. Computers, optical readers: $824.1 million
8. Electro-medical equipment (e.g. xrays): $820.9 million
9. Coal, solid fuels made from coal: $800.7 million
10. Wheat: $744.7 million

Among these, wheat (up 5,466%) and petroleum gases (up 354.8%) grew their net revenues for United States from export sales to Brazil by the highest percentages from 2012 to 2014.

Brazilian Product Advantages Versus United States

Unprocessed oil represents the number one export for which Brazil shows the strongest sales advantage compared to similar product exports from United States to Brazil. In second place is a hi-tech category, aircraft and spacecraft which benefits from strong demand from the competitive American aerospace industry.

1. Crude oil: US$5.2 billion surplus win for Brazil
2. Aircraft, spacecraft: $2.1 billion
3. Iron or non-alloy steel products (semi-finished): $1.6 billion
4. Coffee: $1.3 billion
5. Chemical woodpulp (non-dissolving): $814.6 million
6. Monument/building stones, art: $768.7 million
7. Pig iron: $643.7 million
8. Soya beans: $555.2 million
9. Alloy steel ingots: $459.6 million
10. Shaped wood: $385.9 million

By far the fastest-growing Brazilian product win versus United States is for alloy steel ingots, posting a $459.6 million surplus compared to just $5.1 million during 2012.

Brazil’s edge over American soya beans improved in value by 203.2% from 2012 to 2014, followed by Brazilian aircraft and spacecraft which appreciated by 202.8% over the same period.

Final Scorecard for Trade War: United States Versus Brazil

Spearheaded by refined oil, machinery and electronic products, United States earned an overall $11.9 billion surplus in its international trade with Brazil during 2014.

From a more granular perspective, the Harmonized Tariff Schedule has 97 product categories at the two-digit summary level. The US held positive balances in 56 of those 97 categories (57.7%) for a $25 billion subtotal, led by the following:

1. Machinery: $4.6 billion surplus win for the US
2. Electronic equipment: $3.8 billion
3. Aircraft, spacecraft: $2.5 billion
4. Optical, technical, medical apparatus: $2.2 billion
5. Plastics, plastic articles: $1.9 billion
6. Other chemical goods: $1.6 billion
7. Organic chemicals: $1.4 billion
8. Pharmaceuticals: $1.2 billion
9. Mineral fuels including oil: $1 billion
10. Fertilizers: $949.7 million

These 10 product categories account for 84.3% of the total value of American product-specific surpluses trading with Brazil.

Brazil dominated the remaining 41 product categories subtotaling $13.1 billion in surplus, led by the following:

1. Iron, steel: $3.5 billion surplus win for Brazil
2. Coffee, tea, spices: $1.5 billion
3. Woodpulp: $900 million
4. Wood: $826.1 million
5. Stone, plaster, cement: $796.1 million
6. Oil seed: $517.8 million
7. Vegetable/fruit preparations: $385.8 million
8. Ores, slag, ash: $373 million
9. Beverages, spirits, vinegar:$268.7 million
10. Tobacco: $267.1 million

The above categories represent 71.1% of the total value of Brazilian product-specific trade surpluses gained at United States’s expense.