The Economics of Financial Services in US-Brazil Trade

 The United States and Brazil have one of the most important trade and economic ties in the world. They are both the biggest economies and democracies in the Western Hemisphere. We trade with Brazil 10 times more than any other country. More than 250,000 jobs will be supported by the more than $50 billion that the United States will send to Brazil in goods and services in 2010. United States exports of goods and services to Brazil are rising twice as fast as U.S. exports of goods and services in general. Brazil is becoming a major player in the world stage and an economic giant. Brazil has the seventh largest economy in the world, with a GDP of more than $2 trillion in 2010. It makes up almost 60% of South America's overall GDP. There was 7.5% growth in Brazil's economy in 2010, and there will likely be 4–5% growth in 2011.

As the U.S. and Brazil's relationship grows

We want to build on a strong and growing private sector, a dedication to open and fair trade, and ongoing merger of our economies and energy systems. It would be good for both the U.S. and Brazil to have stronger economic and business ties by working together more on infrastructure, energy (including clean energy, biofuels, and the oil industry), and development in other countries. This would also help the U.S. and Latin America stand stronger together.

A Key Business Partnership

The United States and Brazil deal with each other twice as much as it did ten years ago, reaching more than $80 billion in 2010. Investment and capital also flow both ways. From $18.7 billion in 2004 to $38.8 billion in 2009, exports of goods and services more than doubled.

• Brazil imports more than three times as much as it used to, from $47.2 billion in 2002 to $181.6 billion in 2010. It has 193 million users and expects its per-capita income to grow at a rate of 6% per year.

Exports of U.S. goods to Brazil have almost tripled since 2002, rising from $12.4 billion to $35.4 billion in 2010. The United States sent 35% more goods to Brazil in 2010 than it did in 2009. The U.S. sends more goods to Brazil than any other country—nearly 15% of all goods sent to Brazil come from the U.S.

• The goods that were sent abroad came from high-tech, high-value businesses. In 2010, the U.S. sent $7.2 billion worth of machinery to Brazil as its main product. In 2010, the top exports were airplanes and parts ($4.4 billion), electric machinery ($4.3 billion), and organic chemicals ($2 billion).

• Businesses and entrepreneurs all over the country gain from sending goods to Brazil. For the past 10 years, producers from all 50 states and the District of Columbia have said that they sent goods to Brazil every year. Two-thirds of U.S. states (34 in total) said they exported goods worth more than $100 million in 2010.

• The United States is also sending more services to Brazil. The United States sent more than twice as much in services to Brazil from 2002 to 2009, from $5.1 billion in 2002 to nearly $12.7 billion in 2009. There were telecommunications services worth $1.5 billion and communication and information services worth $350 million as part of these services.

• More than 4.5 billion dollars were spent by nearly 1 million Brazilians who came to the U.S. in 2009, up from 405,000 in 2002. It is expected that by 2015, Brazil will be the fifth most popular country for tourists coming to the U.S.

• The top 15 countries that send the most goods to Brazil (in millions of dollars)

Small and big businesses all over the US are making jobs by doing business with Brazil

• WindStream, based in New Albany, IN, bought 30,000 wind turbines from Wind Force Energia, a Clean Tech store in Brazil, for more than $10 million. These units will be sent out by WindStream starting at the end of this month and every month for the next three years. The item will be used in Brazil for both on-grid and off-grid options in cities and rural areas. Indiana will get 150 new jobs because of this deal.

• Capstone Turbine, a company with 200 workers in Chatsworth, California that makes clean technology micro-turbine energy systems, just finished a $2 million deal with Fluxo Servicios de Petroleo for micro-turbine systems. The turbines were made in California and were sent to Copasa, Brazil, where they serve millions of people in Brazil by treating wastewater and turning methane biogas into clean energy.

• Rhino Assembly Corporation is a small business in Charlotte, North Carolina, with 19 workers that sells and fixes tools used to put together cars and airplanes. The company made a connection with ASA Brazil, a Brazilian tool and equipment distributor, at the Trade Winds Forum Brazil in Sao Paolo last year. This connection has led to over $615,000 in sales and the hiring of new workers in North Carolina over the past year.

Brazil has bought a lot of helicopters from Sikorsky Aircraft (Stratford, CT) over the past 35 years

The Brazilian government recently paid $165 million for four Sikorsky S-70B SEAHAWK helicopters and agreed to pay for two more S-70B planes. Brazil's Petrobras bought eight S-92 heavy-lift helicopters for a total of $200 million and four S-76 medium-lift helicopters for $50 million. Later this year, Sikorsky will send Petrobras a ninth S-92 heavy-lift chopper to help them. These orders for helicopters from Brazil help Sikorsky's factories in Stratford, CT; Troy, AL; and Coatesville, PA keep a lot of skilled workers.