Archive

🌍🌡️ What are EU talking about?

European opposition to the EU-Mercosur trade deal has been declared in environmental terms, but are the arguments valid? Or do they stray into protectionism?

🤯 EU-ltimatum

Lula makes a final push for the EU-Mercosur deal. Bolsonaro sentence-reduction bill makes its way through the Senate. Ozempic’s Brazil patent is running out.

🔕 Off the market

Amid an IPO dry spell, the São Paulo stock exchange has seen a steady decline in the number of listed firms.

🙄 It’s not me, it’s EU

Yet another bump in the road for the EU-Mercosur trade deal. Lula and Bolsonaro are both happy with the latest polling. One more step toward tax reform.

🤔 What to expect from Kast in Chile

José Antonio Kast will be the most right-wing president in Chile’s recent history, but he is also a career politician in a relatively stable country, two big differences with Milei and Bolsonaro.

🔮 What lawmakers think

Is Congress warming up to the idea of a Lula re-election win? Braskem could be in for an ownership change. Natural gas producers want their energy to be considered green.

🚬 Up in smoke

With smoking rates going down and e-cigarettes encroaching, Brazil launches a new program for tobacco farmers seeking to leave the sector.

Sitting down with French Ambassador Emmanuel Lenain

🤑 Follow the pork

Budget earmarks probe closes in on former speaker Lira. The Bolsonaros lose their Trump card. We speak to the French ambassador in Brazil.

🎥 Oscar odds on

Acclaimed by critics, the Brazilian period thriller ‘The Secret Agent’ shows that where the rule of law collapses, authoritarianism seeps into social relationships at every level.

💰 Pay your dues, or else

Brazilian football will be governed by new financial fair play rules as of next season. We look into what changes should be expected.

💧 Water debts and dollar loans

The latest strife between Mexico and the US comes from a 1944 water-sharing agreement. And the hype around Argentina’s return to bond markets under Javier Milei.

🤖📝 Lula’s AI bill

The Brazilian government’s proposal for regulating AI. New tariffs for Brazil: this time from Mexico. One-third of Rio is under criminal control.

💣 Blowing up a river?

Plans to privatize parts of crucial Amazon tributaries could bring logistics gains, but also involve exploding a riverbed rock formation and casting the livelihoods of local communities into doubt.

📖 Between the Central Bank’s lines

The Central Bank’s latest interest rate decision came as no surprise. As talk of reducing Bolsonaro’s sentence gains steam, Congress tests the government. Millions lose power in São Paulo.

💰 Front-loading profits

Brazilian companies are rushing out shareholder dividend payouts in an attempt to avoid the rules of a soon-to-be-enforced income tax reform.