U.S. Postpones Curbs on Trade With Brazil

WASHINGTON — The United States will delay trade sanctions against Brazil until it sees if Brazil’s new computer law meets a demand to end curbs on foreign goods, U.S. Trade Representative Clayton K. Yeutter’s office said.

A spokesman, Gary Holmes, said on Monday that no deadline was set for Brazil to establish a track record either allowing imports or continuing to bar them until its new law, “but we will know when it happens.”

Yeutter announced last Friday that the United States would delay trade sanctions while it monitored Brazil’s new computer law, although he questioned whether the law could be implemented in a fair, nondiscriminatory manner.

He added in a statement, however, that “considering the serious consequences of retaliation, we want to give Brazil the benefit of the doubt.”

The United States last year threatened curbs on Brazilian exports to retaliate for its closed software market but held up on implementation pending the new Brazilian legislation.

Commerce Department officials estimated that Brazil’s old law was costing U.S. computer firms about $400 million in lost sales annually.

Yeutter said he was disappointed with the new law’s lack of clarity in defining which software could be imported and which could not because of competing Brazilian-made products.

He said: “As a result, we are concerned that the informatics program could be administered arbitrarily and capriciously. It also seems that the new law could be used to deny Brazilians access to world-class software.”

Yeutter said the United States continued to be opposed to a policy that shielded domestic markets from imports to give local firms time to develop and compete with foreign imports.