Brazil’s acting president, Geraldo Alckmin, held a phone call with China’s vice president, Han Zheng, to discuss—among other issues—the safeguards applied by the Chinese government to imported beef. According to the Palácio do Planalto, Alckmin expressed concern over the measure and stressed the strategic relevance of the livestock sector to Brazil’s economy, as well as the importance of the issue for the government.
The call is part of a diplomatic strategy to negotiate operational adjustments to the new quotas imposed by China, which as of January 1, 2026, will apply an additional 55% tariff on volumes exceeding country-specific limits. In Brazil’s case, the duty-free quota was set at 1.106 million tons, well below the 1.46 million tons shipped from Brazil in 2025.
