Economy Minister Paulo Guedes said this week that if Europe decides not to open its market to Brazil, agricultural trade with this destination will become "irrelevant" in the country's trade balance.

"Either they open the market for us or they will become irrelevant. So today there is this perception. When this war began in Ukraine, the record fell both for them and for the United States," Guedes said at an event with the Brazilian bar and restaurant industry.

According to government minister Bolsonaro, some European countries inflated by France are trying to boycott the bloc's agricultural trade with Brazil. With protectionist intentions, they would try to delay the country's entry into the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

The OECD announced at the beginning of the year the opening of negotiations for Brazil's accession. President Jair Bolsonaro believes that the process of adhering will be approved "in two or three years".

"Once there was a minister from France there who told me 'you're burning the forest'. And I said, 'You're burning Notre-Dame. What a stupid accusation. You're not burning Notre-Dame, but it's a block and you couldn't stop it, it caught fire. Now, we have an area that is bigger than Europe and you keep criticizing us," Guedes said.

The minister reminded the French minister that trade with China, for example, far exceeds European purchases. "You'd better treat us well, because ... We're going somewhere else, because you're getting irrelevant. It is a continent with a declining demographic," he said.

Source: Agrolink