Etanol

The House Foreign Affairs Committee has begun an inquiry into multiple reports in the Brazilian media that the U.S. ambassador was framing negotiations over ethanol tariffs in partisan terms.


Members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee said Friday they were "extremely alarmed" by assertions that the American ambassador in Brazil had signaled to Brazilian officials they could help get President Trump re-elected by changing their trade policies.

In a letter sent Friday afternoon, Committee Chairman Eliot L. Engel demanded that the ambassador, Todd Chapman, produce "any and all documents referring or related to any discussions" he has held with Brazilian officials in recent weeks about their nation?´s tariffs on ethanol, an important agricultural export for Iowa, a potential swing state in the American presidential election.

The committee?´s letter was sent in response to reports in the Brazilian news media this week saying that Mr. Chapman, a career diplomat, made it clear to Brazilian officials they could bolster Mr. Trump?´s electoral chances in Iowa if Brazil lifted its ethanol tariffs.

Eliminating tariffs would give the Trump administration a welcome trade victory to present to struggling ethanol producers in Iowa, where the president is in a close race with his Democratic rival, Joseph R. Biden Jr.

The House committee said it was opening an inquiry into the matter.

The State Department said Friday afternoon in an emailed statement that "allegations suggesting that Ambassador Chapman has asked Brazilians to support a specific U.S. candidate are false."

The statement added: "The United States has long been focused on reducing tariff barriers and will continue do so."

The O Globo newspaper published a story on Thursday saying Mr. Chapman had underscored "the importance to the Brazilian government of keeping Donald Trump" in office. Mr. Bolsonaro, a far-right leader, has made closer alignment with the Trump administration his top foreign policy priority.

A competing newspaper, Estadão, published an article Friday saying its reporters independently confirmed that the ambassador framed his argument against tariffs in partisan terms. The article said the Brazilian officials who met with Mr. Chapman rejected the appeal, declining to be drawn into the American presidential battle.

Neither article named its sources. But Alceu Moreira, a Brazilian congressman who heads the agricultural caucus, told The New York Times in an interview that Mr. Chapman had made repeated references to the electoral calendar during a recent meeting the two had about ethanol.

He said that Mr. Chapman did not explicitly urge him to help the Trump campaign or bring up the contest in Iowa --- but that the American ambassador did tie the ethanol issue to the election.

I"He said, ?´You know, we have elections in the United States, and that this is very important,?´" Mr. Moreira said, recounting their conversation. "He said this four or five times."

In the letter, Mr. Engel said that if Mr. Chapman had pressured the Brazilians to help the Trump campaign, it could be a violation of the Hatch Act, a 1939 law that bars federal officials from engaging in certain partisan activities.