Negotiations between representatives of the Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade (MDIC) and the US Trade Representative (USTR) are set to begin this week to discuss, among other things, the exclusion of Brazilian pig iron from the list of exceptions to the 25 percent US import tariff announced by the US Trade Representative earlier this week.
According to the Brazilian press, the talks will begin with online talks between Brazilian Minister Marcio Elias Rosa and by U.S. Trade Representative Jamison Greer.
Brazil is expected to highlight how important its pig iron is to the U.S. foundry industry, which imported 3.365 million tons in 2025, or 83 percent of Brazil's total product exports.
That amount has already reached 1.209 million tons between January and May 2026.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and US President Donald Trump could also meet next week in France during the G7 summit in Évian-les-Bains, which could lead to talks on the issue.
A source linked to the iron producers' union in Minas Gerais state Sindifer told SteelOrbis that such talks are extremely important, adding that the main factor that could pave the way for Brazilian iron to return to the exemption list is industry interest in the US not not only because of its competitive price, but also because independent iron producers use charcoal as a reducing agent in their blast furnaces, resulting in "near-zero" net CO2 emissions.
When the charcoal comes from planted forests, the CO2 emissions generated in the blast furnaces are offset by the CO2 emissions absorbed by the next generation of trees.
