U.S. Relations With Brazil – United States Department of State

More information about Brazil is available on the Brazil country page and from other Department of State publications and other sources listed at the end of this fact sheet.

U.S.-BRAZIL RELATIONS

The United States and Brazil enjoy deep and broad political and economic relations. Following Brazil’s independence in 1822, the United States was one of the first countries to recognize Brazil, in 1824. As the largest democracies in the Western Hemisphere, the U.S.-Brazil partnership is rooted in a shared commitment to sustainable economic growth and prosperity; promotion of international peace, security, and respect for human rights; protection of the environment and biodiversity; workers’ rights and labor standards; clean energy deployment and strong defense, health, and security cooperation.

U.S.-Brazil Bilateral Economic Relations

Brazil is the world’s eighth-largest economy, and the United States is Brazil’s second-largest trading partner. In 2023, U.S. exports of goods and services to Brazil were $37.9 billion, down 26 percent from 2022, and imports from Brazil were $36.9 billion, down 2 percent from 2022. This represents a total trade value of $74.8 billion in 2023. In 2023, exports to Brazil accounted for 2.3 percent of total U.S. exports, and imports from Brazil accounted for 1.2 percent of total U.S. imports. The United States purchased a record $29.9 billion in manufactured products from Brazil in 2023, accounting for 81 percent of total U.S. imports from Brazil, reaffirming the United States as the top destination for Brazilian value-added goods. Key industrial Brazilian exports to the United States included semi-finished iron and steel products ($4.8 billion, +7 percent growth over 2022), aircrafts and aircraft parts ($2 billion, -8 percent), and civil engineering equipment ($1.7 billion, +49 percent).

The United States remains the number one source of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Brazil. In 2022, U.S. FDI grew $38 billion (20 percent) to $228.8 billion, mainly driven by increased investments in information and telecommunications (+$16.8 billion), manufacturing (+$6.2 billion), and real estate projects (+$5.5 billion). U.S. FDI increased across nearly all the main sectors of the Brazilian economy, with the bulk of the investments in higher value-added categories including financial services ($59.7 billion, 26 percent of total U.S. 2022 FDI), manufacturing ($55.1 billion, 24 percent), telecommunications ($35.7 billion, 16 percent), automotive sales and repair ($22.2 billion, 10 percent), and real estate ($8.4 billion, 4 percent).

The United States and Brazil conduct regular government-to-government exchanges on topics including trade facilitation, good regulatory practices, and environmental and labor standards. In February 2022, a new protocol updated the 2011 Agreement on Trade and Economic Cooperation, adding state-of-the-art provisions on Customs Administration and Trade Facilitation, Good Regulatory Practices, and Anticorruption. Bilateral mechanisms including Commercial Dialogue and CEO Forum bring cabinet officials and private sector leaders together to coordinate policy measures that can facilitate better economic relations. In February 2022, U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced the launch of a Global Entry arrangement in partnership with the Government of Brazil to offer Brazilian citizens greater ease in traveling to the United States for business or tourism.

U.S. Brazil Partnership for Workers’ Rights

At the 2023 United Nations General Assembly, Presidents Biden and Lula stood side by side to launch the Partnership for Workers’ Rights (PWR), a global initiative to advance the rights of working people around the world. PWR builds on decades of collaboration to promote racial equality and justice, protect the environment and tackle the climate crisis, strengthen democracy, and to advance workers’ rights. Through the partnership, the United States and Brazil seek to advance a shared vision for fairness and sustainability in the global economy, to ensure that economic growth leaves no one behind. PWR establishes a set of goals on issues including ensuring a just transition to the clean energy economy, tackling the issues of heat stress, and fostering workplaces free of discrimination. The United States and Brazil also work with other government stakeholders, unions, and employers to advance these goals around the world.

U.S.-Brazil Relations on Human Rights

The United States and Brazil partner extensively on promoting respect for human rights. Since 2015, especially, both countries have engaged on key multilateral and bilateral issues and remain in consistent communication on these matters, for example, through annual or biennial human rights dialogues. In these meetings, the United States and Brazil discussed positions and opportunities for better alignment within the United Nations, including the Security Council, General Assembly, and Human Rights Council. They also addressed issues of bilateral concern, such as police violence and racial bias, gender equity, protection of rights of Indigenous peoples and environmental defenders, business and human rights, and the protection and promotion of religious freedom. At the May 2023 U.S.-Brazil Human Rights Dialogue, leaders stressed their commitment to strengthening human rights and democracy by promoting inclusive economic growth and opportunity for all citizens.

In May 2023, the Governments of the United States and Brazil relaunched the U.S.-Brazil Joint Action Plan to Eliminate Racial and Ethnic Discrimination and Promote Equality (JAPER). JAPER is a joint initiative to spur action to combat racial and ethnic discrimination and advance equity for marginalized racial and ethnic communities, specifically Afro descendent and Indigenous peoples in Brazil and the United States. JAPER serves as a forum for sharing best practices, amplifying ongoing initiatives, and identifying opportunities for collaboration, specifically related to improving access to education and health; addressing violence and justice; and nurturing culture and preserving memory. The next JAPER plenary will take place on November 12, 2024, in Washington D.C.

U.S.-Brazil Climate Engagement

Brazil has one of the cleanest power generation matrixes in the world, with a heavy reliance on hydroelectric power as well as increasing solar and wind capacity. More than 60 percent of the Amazon rainforest – a globally-critical carbon sink – lies within Brazil’s borders. Though deforestation rates have increased in the last decade, the Lula administration committed to ending deforestation and reaching net zero emissions by 2050. Deforestation rates in the Brazilian Amazon decreased by approximately half in the first year of the Lula administration, though they remained high in other biomes. The two countries have a range of climate and clean energy partnerships, including the U.S.-Brazil Climate Change Working Group and the U.S.-Brazil Clean Energy Forum. The United States provides technical and financial support through a variety of means, including USAID programming. The United States and Brazil also engage in ongoing technical discussions to identify bilateral and multistakeholder opportunities to enhance the ambition of climate action – especially through deforestation reduction. The United States committed to request from Congress a total of $500 million in contributions to the Amazon Fund through 2028. As of August 2024, the United States has made available $50 million of these funds to support efforts to combat deforestation, strengthen conservation, and promote sustainable opportunities for indigenous Amazonian communities.

U.S.-Brazil Energy/Critical Minerals Cooperation

Brazil’s clean energy share is the largest among major economies, and its electricity mix, nearly 90 percent of which derives from renewable sources, is considered one of the cleanest in the world. Co-led by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Brazil’s Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME), the U.S.-Brazil Energy Forum serves as the main platform for energy cooperation with an overarching goal to make the United States Brazil’s partner of choice on energy cooperation. Launched in August 2022, the Clean Energy Industry Dialogue is a mechanism to promote public-private cooperation, driven by the private sectors of both countries, to allow for new initiatives on clean energy. The Critical Minerals Working Group, led by the State Department’s Bureau of Energy Resources and the MME, aims to improve the regulatory environment, enhance geological mapping, and further bilateral cooperation in critical minerals and sustainable supply chain development.

U.S.-Brazil Education, Cultural and Scientific Cooperation

The United States and Brazil share a history of people-to-people ties through investment and exchanges in education, culture, environment, energy, health, agriculture, science and technology, English language training, and innovation.

More than 40,000 youths, students, scholars, teachers, and professionals participated in exchanges between the United States and Brazil. The binational Fulbright Commission (established in 1957) supports student and research exchanges with over 7,000 alumni since its inception. Capacity building for English teaching and learning continues through a variety of projects with public and private education institutions across the country. Forty-four EducationUSA centers help Brazilian high school and university students access information and opportunities to study in the United States.

The latest example of support for cutting-edge research and interdisciplinary, cross-sector collaboration between the United States and Brazil is Fulbright Amazonia. This initiative, co-funded by the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) and the Fulbright Commission in Brazil, directly supports efforts to foster a healthy and resilient Amazon Basin through its collaborative research model. Led by experts from both the United States and Brazil working in multidisciplinary and multinational teams, 16 scholars from the United States and countries within the Amazonian Basin engage in applied research projects to address public policy questions to better protect resources and communities in the world’s largest rainforest. The inaugural cohort of Fulbright Amazonia scholars began their 18-month program in 2023 and a new cohort is set to start in 2025.

EducationUSA’s Opportunity Funds program gives Brazilian students from diverse, underserved backgrounds and high academic excellence the assistance they need to apply to U.S. colleges and universities. A network of 34 U.S.-funded American Spaces in Brazil provides a platform for public diplomacy programming on key foreign policy priorities, including promoting entrepreneurship, STEM education, the rule of law, and economic ties. According to the most recent Open Doors report, 16,025 Brazilian students studied in the United States in 2022/23 a 7.6 percent increase from the previous academic year. Brazil is ranked 9th in the world for sending international students to the U.S.

The Academy for Women Entrepreneurs (AWE), launched in 2020 in Brazil, provides nascent businesswomen the knowledge, networks and access they need to launch or scale their business. To date, over 270 women have benefited from the AWE program. In 2021, the United States expanded Access-E2C, an English language program for young professionals from Afro-Brazilian and Indigenous communities. In 2022, the United States also launched the Power4Girls program, focusing on promoting innovation and leadership for high school girls, and Access Amazon to provide English skills to underserved Indigenous populations in the Amazon. To date, English language programs in Brazil include 28 Specialist projects, 25 Virtual Educator projects, six in-person Fellows, and 693 Access students in the last two years, reaching diverse and indigenous audiences and addressing local language learning needs. In 2022, the flagship Youth Ambassadors exchange program also celebrated its twentieth year of connecting Brazilian and American youth leaders. From its inception in 2002 until 2023, 842 Youth Ambassadors from Brazil have traveled to the United States. The program expanded to more than 30 countries, including the United States, which has sent 198 Youth Ambassadors to Brazil as of 2023. In summer 2022, the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ TechGirls program expanded to include Brazil as an eligible country, offering opportunities for high school students to attend workshop exchanges which expand interest and capability in STEM.

Since its start in 2015, 141 business and social entrepreneurs from Brazil have traveled to the United States to participate in the Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative (YLAI) Fellowship – more than any other country. YLAI fellows represent a buoying economic prosperity not only within our two countries but across the Western Hemisphere. The United States and Brazil also develop professional and educational ties through the International Visitor Leadership Program and the American Council of Young Political Leaders.

The two countries maintain extensive scientific exchanges at the individual researcher level, as well as bilateral collaborations involving the U.S. Geological Survey, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Science Foundation, Department of Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Smithsonian Institution, Department of Energy, and National Institute of Standards and Technology. The two nations collaborate on weather monitoring, metrology and standards, environmental impact monitoring, and an extensive range of public health efforts. Brazil is also home to the National Institute of Health’s largest research portfolio in Latin America. This work is supported by our bilateral agreement on science and technology cooperation.

Since 2018, the United States supports seven cultural heritage preservation projects in Brazil through the U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation. Major projects include efforts to conserve the remains of the early 19th-century Valongo Wharf site in Rio de Janeiro, where an estimated one million enslaved Africans entered Brazil against their will. Other recent projects include the preservation of the archives of the Museu de Arte in Rio Grande do Sul and the conservation of an historic building at the Federal University of Minas Gerais in Diamantina. In 2024, the United States developed the Afro-Connections exchange to promote social inclusion and the protection, safeguarding, and promotion of cultural heritage and memory. This new initiative supports goals of the G20 Culture Working Group, JAPER, and the U.S.-Brazil Bicentennial.

The Technology Safeguards Agreement opened new commercial opportunities for American and Brazilian enterprises in a range of advanced technologies related to space. In 2021 Brazil signed the Artemis Accords, becoming the first South American country to partner with the United States on an agreement that establishes a common vision for governance in the civil exploration and use of outer space.

U.S.-Brazil Defense and Security Cooperation

Brazil became a Major Non-NATO Ally of the United States in July 2019. The United States and Brazil are strengthening cooperation on defense issues, including information sharing, interoperability, research and development, technology security, humanitarian assistance and disaster response, and the acquisition and development of products and services. Under the umbrella of the 2015 U.S-Brazil Defense Cooperation Agreement, a range of security cooperation agreements and initiatives promote joint exercises and facilitate sharing sophisticated capabilities and technologies.

In 2019, the Brazilian Congress ratified the Technology Safeguards Agreement, which guarantees that U.S. sensitive technologies are protected from unauthorized uses and establishes the safeguards to support the potential future launch of U.S.-licensed satellites or space launch vehicles from the Alcantara Space Center in northeastern Brazil.

In March 2022, the Brazilian Congress ratified the Research, Development, Test and Evaluations (RDT&E) Agreement with the United States, allowing for potential partnerships between U.S. and Brazilian defense technology companies. The RDT&E Agreement enables joint development of basic, applied, and advanced technology between the U.S. DoD and the Brazilian Ministry of Defense. The first project arrangement under the RDT&E Agreement, development of the 120mm Extended Range Mortar Ammunition (ERMA), was signed in September 2023. In March 2023, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter STONE, with two Brazilian ship observers onboard, achieved communications and operations milestones with Brazil during its South Atlantic deployment to counter illicit trafficking of narcotics as well as Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing. In May 2024, coinciding with the visit of the USS George Washington to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil participated in the United States led Southern Seas 2024 exercise along with participation from several other regional partners which enhanced capability, improved interoperability, and strengthened maritime partnerships.

U.S. Assistance to Brazil

The U.S. Department of State’s Bureaus of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL) and of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs (OES), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Forest Service, and other partners provide law enforcement and justice sector investigation and prosecution training for Brazilian counterparts to support their efforts to combat trafficking of wildlife, gold, timber, and other conservation crimes that impact the United States, Brazil, and the region.

The U.S. Mission also employs a variety of INL programs to build the capacity of Brazilian law enforcement partners. INL-funded training led by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime is actively increasing Brazil’s capacity to increase citizen security, interdict drugs, and counter the expansion of Brazil-based transnational criminal organizations that threaten U.S. security and prosperity. The Department of Homeland Security partners with the Brazilian government to support investigations into arms trafficking, money laundering, child exploitation, and human trafficking.

The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs (PM) provides security assistance in the form of capacity building support to military education institutions within Brazil’s Ministry of Defense. Through PM’s Global Defense Reform Program, the U.S. government cultivated a long-term partnership between the William J. Perry Center and the Superior War College of Brazil and now supports the Superior Defense College in building its faculty’s capacity to design, deliver, and evaluate courses that meet the defense sector’s needs.

Since FY 2017, the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau for Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) provided nearly $1.54 billion in humanitarian assistance. PRM assistance supports regional responses to the Venezuelan displacement crisis refugees, asylum seekers, and vulnerable migrants in the hemisphere, including more than $148 million in Brazil.

PRM partners with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), along with non-governmental organization partners, including the Association of Volunteers in International Service (AVSI), Caritas, the Pan American Development Foundation (PADF) and World Vision, to assist Venezuelan refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants, and other vulnerable populations in Brazil.

PRM funding for international organization partners includes support for Brazil’s Operation Welcome initiative to receive, document, and voluntarily relocate Venezuelans arriving at Brazil’s northern border. PRM support also funds nationwide campaigns to promote socio-economic inclusion and integration, including improved access to cash and voucher assistance, formal employment and entrepreneurship, housing, education, and other basic services. Furthermore, PRM funding supports networks of shelters in northern Brazil to accommodate Venezuelans, including thousands of Indigenous Venezuelans, and in Sao Paulo for thousands of Afghans. PRM funding strengthens public health structures to increase primary care access, legal protections, and voluntary relocation – including strengthened capacity of host states, municipalities, and civil society organizations to receive and integrate newly arriving Venezuelans, Afghans, and other populations.

PRM funding to NGO partners facilitates Venezuelans’ socio-economic integration through Portuguese language training, job placement, and post-relocation assistance. Additionally, this funding supports safe and managed access to asylum and protection services, as well as improved access to health services – including increased capacity of local healthcare systems, vocational and entrepreneurship training, provision of seed capital for small businesses, and private sector partnerships to create “Migrant Friendly” companies through trainings on hiring practices. PRM funding across implementing partners targets the most vulnerable populations, including Indigenous refugees, LGBTQI+ individuals, women survivors of gender-based violence, and children and adolescents.

Under the Development Objective Grant Agreement signed in 2014, USAID engages in a long-standing bilateral partnership with the Government of Brazil across several joint priorities– including biodiversity conservation in the Amazon, trilateral technical assistance for other countries in targeted areas, private sector partnerships to promote best practices and resources to stimulate development solutions for the conservation of biodiversity and sustainable socioeconomic livelihoods of the Amazon.

• The Partnership for Conservation of Amazon Biodiversity is a multi-year (2014-2030), $130 million bilateral agreement with the Brazilian Cooperation Agency, the Ministry of Environment, the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation, and the National Indigenous Foundation. The purpose of the partnership is to strengthen Brazil’s vast protected area systems, including Indigenous territories, to support sustainable forest-friendly value chains, and to foster private sector leadership and engagement in joint solutions.
• USAID works with Brazilian partners to advance innovative financing solutions for hard-to-reach forest and biodiversity-supportive businesses. The agency facilitates private-sector led collective action platforms, such as the Partnership Platform for the Amazon, which includes more than 50 companies (a mix of Brazilian, American, and international companies) that is generating private sector and market-led sustainable economic solutions designed to reduce deforestation, conserve biodiversity, and improve community well-being.
• The Amazon Biodiversity Fund (ABF) is a Brazilian impact investment fund that intends to raise $60 million in private capital. Launched in November 2019, the ABF was co-designed with support from USAID/Brazil, the Alliance of Biodiversity International, and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture. The 11-year term fund intends to address inherent financial challenges by providing flexible, long-term, capital for sustainable businesses that seek transformational, positive impact on Amazon biodiversity and communities. Since it was launched, the fund closed deals with several Amazon impact businesses and has obtained a second investor, the Dutch bank ASN. This is an important milestone that marks the beginning of the second fundraising phase of the ABF.

ENR’s Energy and Mineral Governance Program (EMGP) and Power Sector Program (PSP) provides assistance to Brazil to support critical mineral supply chain development, strengthen power sector competitiveness, improve integration of renewable energy, and create paths to advance decarbonization objectives.

In addition to these lines of effort, USAID’s regional mission in Peru provides medium-to-long-term assistance to Brazil, Ecuador, and Peru to improve and facilitate the economic integration of Venezuelan migrants.

Brazil’s Membership in International Organizations

Brazil and the United States share a commitment to multilateral engagement through many international organizations, including the United Nations, the Organization of American States, the Inter-American Development Bank, the G-20, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization. Brazil hosted the G-20 in 2024. Brazil will host the BRICS Summit and the UN Climate Change Conference (COP30) in 2025. Brazil traditionally has been a leader in the inter-American community and is a member of the sub-regional Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR), the Forum for the Progress and Integration of South America (PROSUL), Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO), Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), Latin American Economic System (SELA), and Latin American Integration Association (ALADAI) groups. Brazil is a longstanding member of the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (or Rio Pact), which seeks to establish collective security among the participatory nations of the Western Hemisphere.

Bilateral Representation

Principal U.S. embassy officials are listed in the Department’s Key Officers List. 

Brazil maintains an embassy in the United States at 3006 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008 (tel. 202-238-2700). 

CIA World Factbook Brazil Page   
U.S. Embassy and Consulates in Brazil 
USAID Brazil Page   
CDC Brazil Page   
History of U.S. Relations With Brazil 
Office of the U.S. Trade Representative Countries Page   
U.S. Census Bureau Foreign Trade Statistics   
Export.gov/U.S. Commercial Service in Brazil   
Library of Congress Country Studies   
Travel Information 
Embassy of Brazil in Washington, DC