Baker Hostetler Washington, D.C., partner and head of the International Trade practice Elliot J. Feldman was a featured speaker at an international trade seminar in Sao Paulo, Brazil, hosted by the law firm Barretto Ferreira, Kujawski e Brancher (BKBG), on March 15, 2011.
The seminar was planned in anticipation of President Barack Obama’s historic visit to Brazil and featured three speakers—Feldman, the Honorable Ruben Antonio Barbosa former Brazilian Ambassador to the United States and Vera Thorstensen former Chief Economic Adviser to Brazil’s WTO Delegation in Geneva. Attending the seminar were representatives from many of Brazil’s top companies and multinational corporations.
Feldman addressed how Brazil’s trade with the United States has diminished from levels that would correspond to their respective trade volumes, and that, while the United States enjoys a trade surplus with Brazil, there is a future of potential collaboration and tension over ethanol and other fuel products, including oil.
BKBG recently successfully completed a matter in collaboration with Baker Hostetler on behalf of AbitibiBowater, involving the Canadian company’s sale of lightweight coated paper from a mill in South Carolina to Brazil. It was the first collaboration between the firms and they are planning a joint seminar in New York in May 2011.