Concerns over U.S. tariffs have been growing in Brazil and Peru, as many believe that these protectionist measures undermine international trade rules and harm global economic development.
The United States has recently imposed a 10 percent tariff on Brazilian imports, following earlier duties of 25 percent on Brazilian steel and aluminum.
This has sparked criticism and dissatisfaction among the Brazilian people.
"I believe that protectionism will harm the relationship between any country and the United States. This protectionism will affect trade relations, affect all nations, particularly Brazil," said Henrique Villares, a local resident.
"There's no doubt that the tariffs imposed by the United States, particularly on steel, will have a negative impact on the Brazilian market, since steel is a crucial raw material for the entire industry," said Julio Cesar de Moraes, another resident.
As Brazil is the world's leading producer and exporter of coffee, Marcos Matos, executive director of Brazilian Coffee Exports Council, said that U.S. tariffs will harm international trade and cause economic issues.
"[Free trade and global economic growth] are positively correlated. When free trade expands, the global economy also thrives. Whether the U.S. tariffs are a way to exert pressure or part of a long-term strategy, they will harm international flow of trade and market expectations. and also affect the family incomes, and contribute to economic issues like inflation. This situation is troubling," said Matos.
Meanwhile, Jose Linares Gallo, former member of Congress of Peru, said that U.S. tariffs will bring no real benefits at all.
"In fact, the country that used to champion freedom and signed a lot of Free Trade Agreement is now on the completely opposite side. It no longer defends free trade and is undermining its own foundation by eliminating freedom. The absurd tariff policies they have adopted provide no real benefits at all," said Gallo.
Peru has formally requested that the United States suspend a recently approved 10 percent tariff on Peruvian goods, Foreign Minister Elmer Schialer said Wednesday.
According to Schialer, the new tariff violates the spirit of the U.S.-Peru Free Trade Agreements, under which 98 percent of Peruvian exports to the United States are supposed to enter duty-free.
Int'l concerns grow over U.S. tariffs
Int'l concerns grow over U.S. tariffs
China will continuously build a robust domestic market to bolster its economy and counter external challenges in accordance with the requirements and arrangement from the annual Central Economic Work Conference, which put domestic demand at the forefront of eight key tasks for next year's economic work, according to experts.
The tone-setting conference was held in Beijing from Wednesday to Thursday in which the Chinese leadership decided priorities for the economic work in 2026.
Over the past four years, domestic demand has contributed an average of 86.4 percent to China's economic growth, according to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China's top economic planner.
"The top priority is to expand domestic demand as the key reason for this is that our demand is relatively weak. The first step here is figuring out how to increase consumption," said Chen Binkai, vice president of Central University of Finance and Economics.
Consumption has continued to play a leading role in the country's economic growth this year. In the first three quarters, final consumption expenditure contributed 53.5 percent to economic growth, an increase of 9 percentage points compared to the whole of last year.
The annual Central Economic Work Conference proposed that in 2026, a special campaign to boost consumption will be implemented in depth, the supply of high-quality goods and services will be expanded, policies on new and emerging industries will be optimized, unreasonable restrictions in the consumption field will be eliminated, and the potential of service consumption will be unleashed.
"Previously, much of the consumption we have encouraged is for manufactured goods. However, the growth rate of our service sector is not as ideal as that of the manufacturing sector. Therefore, increasing some investment to encourage consumption in the service sector may play a better role in stabilizing growth and expanding domestic demand," said Huang Qunhui, a researcher of the Institute of Economics under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Experts said that income is the primary factor determining consumption, and only by increasing residents' disposable income, can their consumption capacity be improved.
They also said that the conference, while emphasizing the promotion of consumption, also clearly pointed out the need to formulate and implement a plan to increase the income of urban and rural residents.
"The Third Plenary Session [of the 20th CPC Central Committee] mentioned the need to increase the proportion of residents' income, specifically the proportion of labor compensation within that income. The Fourth Plenary Session [of the 20th CPC Central Committee] further proposed implementing a specific income-increasing plan for urban and rural residents. Of course, consumption is not solely an income issue. We need to strengthen basic public services and improve our social security fund. If these issues are further improved and optimized, and residents have higher incomes, they will be more willing to spend more on consumption, especially on development-oriented consumption," said Huang.
Expanding domestic demand remains top priority for China's economic work in 2026: experts
