Brazil's trade deficit with the United States: an unequal relationship: Despite being one of the largest economies in Latin America, Brazil maintains an unbalanced trade balance with the United States. According to data released by O Globo, in 2024 Brazil imported about $ 44 billion in American products, while Brazilian exports to the US added only $ 42 billion. That is, the country closed the year with a commercial deficit of approximately $ 2 billion. This result puts Brazil among the few business partners that maintain an unfavorable relationship with the United States. In practical terms, it means that Brazil buys more than it can sell to the US market, something that aggravates external dependence and reduces the competitiveness of national industry. In addition, the deficit occurs even in sectors where Brazil has export tradition, such as agribusiness and mining. Factors such as technical barriers, sanitary requirements and, especially, Trump's tariff wars...
Elon Musk's net worth suffered a significant drop this Thursday (5), with a reduction of US$ 26.6 billion, equivalent to R$ 148.8 billion, according to the most recent survey by Forbes magazine. The fall occurred mainly after shares of Tesla, the electric vehicle manufacturer led by Musk, fell 14% on the financial market.
Despite the billion-dollar loss, Musk remains at the top of the list of the richest people on the planet, still accumulating a fortune estimated at US$ 387.9 billion (around R$ 2.17 trillion). He remains comfortably ahead of the second-placed Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, who has a net worth of US$ 236.3 billion (R$ 1.32 trillion).
The devaluation movement took place against the backdrop of public tension between Musk and former US President Donald Trump. In strong statements on Thursday, Trump threatened to end subsidies and government contracts signed with companies owned by the South African billionaire. Musk's response was equally explosive.
The exchange of barbs between the two provoked immediate reactions in the market, generating uncertainty among investors. The result was a loss of more than US$ 100 billion (R$ 559 billion) in Tesla's market value in a single day. Since a large part of Musk's fortune is tied to the shares of the companies he controls, the fluctuation is directly reflected in his position in the billionaire ranking.
The friction gained strength after Trump publicly expressed his dissatisfaction with criticisms made by Musk of the budget project currently being debated in the American Congress. During a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, at the White House, the former president said:
• “I am very disappointed in Elon. I helped Elon a lot,” said Trump in the Oval Office.
Shortly after, Musk responded via the X platform (formerly Twitter), denying Trump and reinforcing his role in the past elections:
• “Without me, Trump would have lost the election, the Democrats would control the House, and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate. This is so ungrateful.”
The tension escalated even further when, in a post on the Truth Social network, Trump toughened his stance, suggesting that he could cancel incentives and contracts with Musk's companies, such as SpaceX:
• “The easiest way to save billions and billions of dollars in our budget is to end Elon Musk's government subsidies and contracts. I've always been surprised that Biden hasn't done this!”
In a new response, Musk raised his tone and accused Trump of involvement in scandals associated with financier Jeffrey Epstein:
• “Donald Trump is in the Epstein files. That's the real reason they haven't been made public.”
The disagreement between the two leading figures in politics and technology has generated concern about the possible consequences for public contracts and the future of the companies involved. Analysts believe that the instability may continue to affect the market as long as the impasse remains evident.
Comments
Post a Comment