00:00As presidential runoff enters its final hours we are joined now by a special
00:05guest Cristiano Adario, professor at the Federal Institute of Sao Paulo and PhD
00:10in Economic History from the University of Sao Paulo. His research focuses on
00:16monetary history and the history of economics thought with comparative
00:20studies on Brazil and also the United States. Welcome Cristiano to From the
00:24South. Thank you very much for your time here in From the South.
00:31Thank you for inviting me. It's a pleasure to be here.
00:34Cristiano, one of the main concerns of voters during this electoral period has been the economy.
00:41In this context, how has the tariff war imposed on the country by the United States
00:47impacted the country's economic development?
00:53Well, the tariffs, Trump's tariffs over Brazil, it's a very, it's a position which the Bolsonaro
01:05family supports in a way very, very, very amazingly. They supported this kind of interventions.
01:15So it's very funny to find that a group, political group in Brazil, which are connected and supporting
01:23tariffs, tariffs over Brazil. Yeah, the reaction against this kind of Trump tariffs come from Lula's
01:35party group.
01:39Can the economic consequences of the tariffs, the tariffs that you have to have just described,
01:47translate into voters, translate into votes today? And how could that be possible?
01:56Well, the main problem, the main economic problem of the voters in this moment in Brazil is, is
02:06the tax of interest, interest rates in Brazil. The jobs in Brazil become better with Lula government.
02:16The work is better. The price of food is lowing. It's a kind of problem yet, but it's better
02:24now than before. The biggest, biggest economic concern of the voters in this moment for, say,
02:34they can be against the Lula is the tax interest rates in Brazil in this moment.
02:42How important are Brazil's economic and trade relations with China and other BRICS countries,
02:47and also what is at stake in this relationship in today's runoff?
02:56Please, could you repeat?
02:58How important are trade and economic relations between Brazil and China and other BRICS countries,
03:05and in that sense, what's at stake today in this runoff elections, in this relationship?
03:13Well, what's at stake in this election is that the Brazilian relation with China is the great, great arm for
03:24the economic growth in Brazil.
03:26The development of Brazil, the economic development of Brazil is all connected with China,
03:32which they are our biggest buyers, our biggest investors in Brazil.
03:38So, our connection with China is really, really economically central to our development, our position.
03:48So, in this election, what is at stake is if Brazil will continue to be a power for more multilateral
04:03world,
04:03multilateral power, connection with China, and be more concerned with a diplomatic way to get out of a lot of
04:15world problems
04:16that we are seeing today by everywhere.
04:19So, it's very, very serious this election in Brazil.
04:22If we will continue with a more political and diplomatical position for all of the world problems,
04:30or we will be more connected under, we will become under a militarist position of the US in this election.
04:40It is very, very connected for the Brazilian economy.
04:44If we took the continuation of the Lula government, we will be more aware, more connected with the development of
04:54our country,
04:55a lot of more opportunities in these connections.
04:59Also, in that same vein, could this election, as journalists have just highlighted,
05:06could this election determine whether Brazil's deepends its economic relationship with the BRICS countries
05:12or moves closer to Washington?
05:19It's exactly like that.
05:21Flávio Bolsonaro already said that he is intended to keep the BRICS, to get out of the BRICS.
05:28Maybe he was not capable to do that, but he will be, for sure, he will become much more, much
05:40more far away and distant
05:42of the BRICS forum.
05:44He will be like a decorative member of the BRICS if Flávio Bolsonaro wins.
05:49He already said that.
05:52So, it will be very serious for the position of the Brazilian under the BRICS if Flávio Bolsonaro wins.
06:02Thank you very much, Cristiano, for your analysis and helping us understand what is at stake today
06:07for the economy of the nation and also the foreign relations as well.
06:14Your pleasure.
