MR TEK: Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to our call today previewing the Secretary of State’s travel to Brazil and Argentina. This call will be on the record and is embargoed until its conclusion. Joining us today are Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Brian A. Nichols and Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs Ramin Toloui. We’ll take brief opening remarks from each of our speakers and then we’ll turn it over to your questions. And so with that, let’s turn it over to AS Nichols to kick us off. Sir.
ASSISTANT SECRETARY NICHOLS: Thank you so much, Nathan, and great to be with my colleague, Assistant Secretary Ramin Toloui, today to preview Secretary Blinken’s travel to Brazil and Argentina. During this trip, the Secretary will meet with two key partners in the Americas to discuss a range of shared priorities.
On February 20th the Secretary will travel to Brasília to meet with President Lula. They’ll discuss crucial bilateral regional, and global issues and celebrate the bicentennial of diplomatic relations between our two countries. The Secretary will focus on several shared priorities, including the United States’ support for Brazil’s G20 presidency, the U.S.-Brazil Partnership on Worker’s Rights, and cooperation on the Clean Energy Transition. In Rio de Janeiro, Secretary Blinken will attend the G20 Foreign Minister’s meeting. On the margins of the meeting, the Secretary will engage G20 partners and others on the Multinational Security Support Mission to Haiti, a key effort that responds to the call from the Haitian people for help to restore security and stability.
On February 22nd the Secretary will travel to Buenos Aires to meet with President Javier Milei. They will discuss multiple areas of shared interest, including sustainable economic growth, economic prosperity, human rights, the importance of democratic governance, deepening cooperation on energy and critical minerals, and trade investment opportunities between our two countries.
Brazil and Argentina are two of our most important partners in the Americas. The breadth and depth of our relations allows us to work together to enhance regional and global security and to achieve inclusive economic growth and prosperity for our peoples through trade and investment. We look forward to engaging with President Lula and President Milei next week. Thanks and over to you, Ramin.
ASSISTANT SECRETARY TOLOUI: Thank you Nathan and Brian. Excited to be here to talk about Secretary’s Blinken – Secretary Blinken’s travel to attend the G20 Foreign Ministers meeting which will be held in Rio. As always, these meetings are an opportunity to work with the world’s largest economies on finding solutions to the challenges that are impacting all of our lives. We’re excited to be supporting Brazil on the ambitious agenda it has laid out for its presidency.
During his meeting, Secretary Blinken will discuss our shared priorities, including on combating hunger, poverty – hunger and poverty, mobilizing against climate change, and reducing inequality. We will highlight how the U.S. leads the work of the United States; it is well-aligned with Brazil’s goals for its G20 presidency. Secretary Blinken plans to highlight several concrete examples such as our efforts to develop diverse climate-resistant crop varieties and build healthy soil through partnerships like the Vision for Adapted Crops and Soils.
Secretary Blinken will discuss the multiple lines of effort that he and the U.S. Government are engaging in to de-escalate conflict in several regions. And we are also leading on strengthening international system so it’s more inclusive and effective at responding to modern challenges. We’re doing this through our support for UN Security Council reform, for evolving the multilateral development banks, and increasing the voice of emerging market economies in institutions like the G20 and at the IMF. Thanks to all of you for joining today. and looking forward to taking your questions.
MR TEK: Great. Thank you so much. AT&T moderator, would you mind just haring the instructions for joining the question queue.
OPERATOR: Ladies and gentlemen, if you would like to ask a question, press 1 than 0 on your telephone keypad.
MR TEK: Great. Can we please go to the line of Jenny Hansler from CNN?
QUESTION: Hi, can you hear me?
MR TEK: Yes.
QUESTION: Hi, thanks for doing this. Just a more logistical question, I guess. Does the Secretary intend to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov on the margins at the G20, as he did last year? And do you have any additional information about any other bilats he may be having on the margins there?
And then on the meeting with Lula, given the divisions between the Brazilian leader and the U.S. on the conflict in Gaza, do you expect – how do you expect these conversations to go? Do you think you’ll be able to bridge any gaps there? Thank you.
ASSISTANT SECRETARY TOLOUI: So I’ll take the first one and then have Brian take the second one. This is Ramin Toloui. So we don’t have any meetings to preview at this time, any bilateral meetings. As a general matter, we’re going to underscore and continue to discuss the damage that the Kremlin’s war of aggression has caused and encourage all G20 partners to redouble their calls for a just, peaceful, and lasting end to the Kremlin’s war consistent with the UN Charter principles. We’ll continue to describe in clear terms what’s happening in Ukraine, explain our position which is shared by the vast majority of members at the UN General Assembly and at the G20. And let me turn it over to Brian for the second half of the question.
ASSISTANT SECRETARY NICHOLS: So the Secretary is looking for a robust conversation and engagement with President Lula on a range of global issues. Brazil is a key partner on a whole host of issues, and among those the issues of global peace and security. I think it’s going to be a dynamic conversation. The Secretary will have recently engaged with partners both in Munich and his trips to the Middle East, and they’ll have an opportunity to discuss where we see opportunities to make progress in promoting greater stability and greater prosperity for the world.
MR TEK: Great, thank you so much. Gentlemen, please go to the line of Simon Lewis from Reuters.
QUESTION: Hi, thank you. I hope you can hear me. Yeah, I just wanted to follow up on Jenny’s question a little bit, the first question about Lavrov. I wonder if you could talk a little bit more about how the U.S. hopes the G20 will come together with a statement on Russia’s war in Ukraine. This has been a – obviously a sticking point in the last – like the last two hosts, I guess, of the G20. Are you looking for stronger language on the war in Ukraine or is there now – we’re now settled into a pattern of this – the language that’s been in, I guess, the last couple of statements out of it?
And I’m wondering if the death of Alexei Navalny or the reported death of Alexei Navalny factored into that at all. Is that something that you would want G20 nations to come together to express a view on? Thank you.
ASSISTANT SECRETARY TOLOUI: Alex, so Brazil did not ask or attempt to mobilize a joint statement for the foreign ministers. And I should say that the foreign ministers meeting is not typically a venue for negotiating statements or issuing joint statements.
MR TEK: Great. Thank you so much. Can we please go to the line of Shaun Tandon from the AFP?
QUESTION: Hey there, thanks for this. Following up a little bit on my colleague’s question but on a different issue, Venezuela – in terms of the G20, but also bilaterally with Brazil and Argentina, these two leaders, Lula and Milei, seem to have quite (inaudible). To what extent do you expect Venezuela will factor into the discussions. And what are you looking for from the two leaders, considering the developments in Caracas?
And just briefly, do you – could you say a little bit about what your agenda will be with Milei? I mean, he has – the economy is just front and center in terms of his – the beginning of his tenure. To what extent do you think the U.S. can work with him? How does the U.S. see him at this point?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY NICHOLS: Well, sort of – the opportunity to discuss with both countries efforts to promote democracy, rule of law, respect for human rights in our own hemisphere, will be crucial. President Lula is certain active in that front, and as a bordering country to Venezuela, has important ties and connections to the Maduro authorities and is able to deliver key messages to them. And the Brazilian Government has expressed its concerns about the situation there. And they played an important role in helping to address the tensions between the Maduro authorities and the Government of Guyana over the Esequibo, for example. President Milei has been very vocal in speaking out about the defense of democracy and human rights throughout our hemisphere, and particularly his concerns about the situation in Venezuela with regard to elections and democracy. There’s an important opportunity to talk to both leaders about those topics as well as other challenges to democracy and the rule of law around the world.
With regard to Argentina, President Milei is engaged in a broad effort to reform the Argentine economy to deal with the overhang of massive debt that the country is suffering from and to make the government more efficient. Those will be important topics to discuss as well as how to accomplish those crucial goals while still safeguarding the most vulnerable in society. Argentina has tremendous potential, whether it’s in energy or in critical minerals, and talking about those trade opportunities between our two countries will be important. President Milei was also recently in Israel, and certainly Argentina has one of the largest Jewish populations in South America, I think the largest. And it’s an opportunity to get President Milei’s views on the way forward between Israel and Gaza. So we have a lot to talk about there.
MR TEK: Thank you so much. Can we please go to the line of Aline Bronvati from – it looks like Broadcast São Paulo.
QUESTION: Thanks for accepting my question. You mentioned the UN Security Council. Should Secretary Blinken discuss some type of support for Brazil with President Lula? And we have seen an escalation of public insecurity in Brazil. Is this topic the focus of the (inaudible) with President Lula considering the U.S. experience in dealing with an armed population? Thank you.
ASSISTANT SECRETARY NICHOLS: So it was a little bit difficult for me to understand; the line was a little bit garbled for me. But the question was with regard to security or crime concerns within Brazil? Was that the question?
QUESTION: Yes, exactly.
ASSISTANT SECRETARY NICHOLS: So the United States has a long history of cooperation with Brazil on law enforcement matters: cooperation through the State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement, which continues in terms of information sharing, capacity building, and coordination; obviously coordination through the Department of Justice on legal issues and our law enforcement agencies. While those efforts will definitely continue, I think that’s – that’s not necessarily going to be the focus of the conversations, but that’s certainly something that we value and will continue to work on together.
MR TEK: Thank you. Can we go to Nike Ching from Voice of America?
QUESTION: Hello. Thank you very much for this call. I would like to ask about the Chinese influence in the Western Hemisphere. Brazil is a member of BRICS. Can you talk about – as the U.S. and China is in a competition relationship, can you talk about PRC’s influence there in the continent, and do you have anything – bilateral meetings between Secretary Blinken and Chinese counterparts? Thank you.
ASSISTANT SECRETARY NICHOLS: So I’ll just note that our view on issues like that is that what we want to do is make sure that countries are able to trade with whomever they think is valuable for them, but we want to make sure that countries understand what the value proposition is, what the costs and benefits are, and to make sure that the United States is offering up a comprehensive and powerful alternative to those who may not necessarily have others’ best interests at heart. And we want to make sure that we’re cooperating with Brazil on economic issues, not to mention the rest of this hemisphere. The United States is the largest source of foreign direct investment in Brazil and we have a robust presence of U.S. companies in Brazil, as well as in Argentina, and we’re looking forward to deepening our economic ties between both of them. And in terms of the scheduling and conversation of meetings, I’d defer that to Ramin.
ASSISTANT SECRETARY TOLOUI: Yeah, as I said, we don’t have anything to preview in terms of the Secretary’s bilateral meetings at this time. I would just amplify what Brian said about the depth of the economic relationship between the United States and Brazil and the extraordinary potential to deepen that relationship in the years ahead.
MR TEK: Fantastic. Can we please go to Andres Sivanza from The Politica Online?
QUESTION: Thank you very much. I want to know what do you think about the dollarization that Milei plans to implement in Argentina, and also the possibility of a free trade agreement focused on critical minerals also with Argentina.
ASSISTANT SECRETARY NICHOLS: Well, I think this one’s right down the middle between Ramin and I. I’ll just note that we don’t take a position on whether countries wish to use the dollar as their currency. That’s up to them. Some countries in our hemisphere do that. It’s a choice for each government and central bank to make depending on what they view as convenient.
I don’t know, Ramin, do you have more on that?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY TOLOUI: No, Brian, I think you’ve articulated that well.
MR TEK: Okay. Can we please go to Igor Patrick from the South China Morning Post?
QUESTION: Hello. Thanks for doing this. I actually have two questions, one on Argentina and a second one on Brazil. So on Argentina, we know that Buenos Aires has been engaged in discussions for several months regarding the possibility of terminating negotiations with China for the purchase of JF-17 aircraft in favor of used F-16s from Denmark. I was just wondering if Secretary Blinken plans to address this topic during his discussion with Milei.
And the second question – President Lula has been a prominent advocate for the concept of de-dollarization in foreign trade. He has even publicly called for the BRICS nations to conduct commercial transactions using their own currencies, and I was wondering if – what’s the official position of the U.S. State Department on this matter? And will it be part of Secretary Blinken’s agenda with Lula? Thank you.
ASSISTANT SECRETARY TOLOUI: So I can jump in on the second one, and I’ll invite Brian on the first one. So the Secretary of the Treasury is the only person in the U.S. Government who speaks on the dollar, so I won’t address that topic. I will just emphasize that the United States is – in all of our engagement with Brazil is looking for areas of cooperation and to deepen the economic relationship, and whether it’s in manufacturing or technology and many other areas, there’s enormous potential for deeper cooperation.
MR TEK: A/S Nichols, anything to add on the other part of that question, or —
ASSISTANT SECRETARY NICHOLS: Yeah, sorry. The call dropped, so I didn’t – I think I missed several minutes of content.
MR TEK: The question was about Argentina terminating negotiations with the PRC to purchase military aircraft from them.
ASSISTANT SECRETARY NICHOLS: Ah. So yeah, I hadn’t even heard the question. So the – our view is that we want to be Argentina’s partner of choice. Argentina is a major non-NATO ally of the United States and we want to cooperate with them across a broad range of security issues, and we believe that the technology and the affordability of what we have on offer will meet Argentina’s needs. Beyond that, it’s up to them to choose who they purchase equipment from and who they choose as providers.
MR TEK: Okay. And we have time for one more question, and that will go to Patricia Vasconcellos from SBT.
QUESTION: Thank you very much. At the beginning, it was said that one of the goals of the trip is Secretary Blinken and President Lula discuss how to de-escalate tensions in different regions. How do you believe that this talk or meeting with President Lula can be beneficial to de-escalate tensions in Gaza? President Lula was recently in Cairo and spoke very openly about how he believes that this military operation there must be stopped in order to protect civilian lives.
And a second question, if possible, related to workers’ right. If there is something that can be anticipated now and that goes beyond the agreement signed between Presidents Biden and Lula last year in New York regarding workers’ rights? Thank you.
ASSISTANT SECRETARY NICHOLS: So first on the situation in Gaza, Secretary Blinken has been working tirelessly along with many allies and partners to try and find a way forward that would include a ceasefire and progress toward a two-state solution. We believe that Brazil, which has been vocal in trying to find a way forward to de-escalate this conflict and find longer-term solutions, is an important partner in this effort, and sharing ideas and views will be crucial to the conversation between Secretary Blinken, President Lula; Foreign Minister Vieira as well, I should note, is also someone who’s been very actively engaged on this.
And with regard to labor issues, this is a tremendous priority for President Biden, Secretary Blinken, and the entire administration. This is an opportunity for us to talk about how do we ensure that workers around the world have the opportunity to better their lot, better their lives, to organize, to work transparently together. That’s an important part of the conversation that we have. And Ramin may have additional thoughts on that.
ASSISTANT SECRETARY TOLOUI: Yes. The Biden administration released an ambitious strategy on global labor in November, and as the question suggested, this is also a critical area of agreement between Presidents Biden and Lula. And we at the State Department are implementing that strategy and the agreement between the two presidents. When I was in Brazil in December, I met with Brazilian labor leaders. When Secretary Blinken was in Davos in January, he met with a group of international labor leaders. So one distinctive dimension of this administration has been the increased engagement between the U.S. State Department and labor leaders as a matter of course in our foreign policy.
MR TEK: Thank you so much. That does conclude our call. Thank you all so much for joining us, and thank you to our speakers. The embargo on the call is now lifted. As a reminder, this call was on the record. Thank you so much for joining us and have a great day. Goodbye.
