Today, President Barack Obama met with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in the Oval Office. Brazil has managed to weather the economic storm due to its sound fiscal and monetary policies, plentiful supply of ethanol and other factors, and the sphere of influence which degraded significantly under President Bush (think Evo Morales, the buttressing of the power of Hugo Chavez, among others) has seemingly expanded once again.
The U.S. State Department and theUnited States Trade Representative can look at Brazil in a few ways--a reliable economic partner; a friend in an unfriendly area; but most importantly, an emerging super power than has the potential to significantly better the lives of Brazilians and their Southern and Central American trading partners.
This meeting was called partly to prepare for the upcoming G-20 meeting in London scheduled for April 2nd. What are the goals of this meeting? What has been achieved this weekend between Brazil and the United States that may contribute to a more productive summit?
Brazilian Ambassador Antonio Patriota on the Obama Administration
According to a Washington Post article "Brazil's President to Seek a Change in U.S. Approach", Lula da Silva is looking to fundamentally modify Brazil's diplomatic relationship with the United States.
We would hope that the United States and the Obama administration would not look to Latin America and South America under the prism of drug trafficking. Drug trafficking is one problem, it's a serious problem, but the relation is much broader and otherwise it will be contaminated from the beginning," Amorim said. "If there is a message we would like to give, that would be one.
And if the Administration has sent any signals, it certainly is one of reconciliation. The Brazilian authorities have been incredibly relieved by the signals sent by the intention to close down Guantanamo Bay's detention of "enemy combatants". The major collaborative venture between Brazil and the U.S. outside of the scope of the so-called "War on Drugs" includes cooperation on Cellulosic Ethanol technology. This includes a memorandum of understanding on the subject, used as a leverage tool against Venezuela and the Chavez regime.
Specifically, Brazil and the United States finance ministers and principles are preparing for the high-stakes G-20 meeting. Gordon Brown, Prime Minister of Great Britain, called for at this meeting to work out a Global "New Deal", a story that sent the Trilateral Commission conspiracy theorists and Truthers claiming Armageddon. It seems as though this call has been tempered by the realities of the negotiations, and fears that France and Germany, among others, do not want such a far reaching proposal.
China has also backed off of the second stimulus package, which spooked the market considerably. Especially since the Chinese Prime Minster started talking about treasury bonds. This was a first shot across the bow in the latest escalation of diplomatic pressure by Beijing on the United States Administration.
Regardless of what the outcome of the G-20 meeting is, one thing is for certain: increasing the power of the United States by developing effective relationships with emerging powers like Brazil will prove invaluable in on-going negotiations that will affect the world financial and commercial banking markets for years, if not decades.
What do you all think will be the outcome of the G-20 summit? Will it be broad reform and dramatic action? Or will it be a talk shop that spooks the markets and increases tension between the super-powers and regional hegemons?