Brazil acknowledges possibility of no US trade deal by August 1

Brazil's finance minister said on Monday his country would not give up negotiating with the US but acknowledged that a trade deal may fail to be reached by August 1, when President Donald Trump's 50% tariffs on Brazilian goods are due to take effect, Reuters reported.

"That could happen," Fernando Haddad told radio station CBN in an interview, saying Latin America's largest economy was still awaiting a response from Washington on trade proposals initially submitted in May.

Trump announced the steep tariffs earlier this month, citing what he called a "witch hunt" against former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, who is on trial on charges of plotting a coup, and trade practices he said were unfair.

Haddad said Brazil had contingency plans to deal with any potential tariffs and could ultimately redirect more than half its current US exports to other markets. "But that would take time," he cautioned.

The US is a large buyer of Brazil's oil, steel products, coffee, beef, aircraft, and orange juice, but runs a trade surplus with the South American country - a point Brazilian officials have used to label the threatened tariffs as unjustified.