Alckmin says he spoke with the US Secretary of Commerce and asked for negotiations.

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Vice President and Minister of Development, Industry, Trade and Services, Geraldo Alckmin, said on Thursday that he spoke on Saturday with the United States Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick, to whom he reiterated his request for negotiations on tariffs.

In a press interview, Alckmin stated that the nearly hour-long dialogue was good and productive, but did not give details about requests from Brazil or responses from the US authority during the conversation, which he described as confidential.

"I reiterated Brazil's willingness to negotiate; Brazil has never left the negotiating table. We didn't create this problem, but we want to solve it," he said.

"The conversation was productive, but let's wait and see; these are institutional conversations and should be kept private."

The 50% tariff on Brazilian products is scheduled to take effect on August 1st. The government has been holding rounds of meetings with companies to assess the potential impacts of the measure and study possible responses, but has encountered difficulties in making contact with high-ranking officials in the Trump administration and attempting direct negotiations.

In the interview, Alckmin reiterated that there is no economic or commercial reason for the tariff to be implemented. He believes that putting the measure into effect would be an injustice to Brazil.

In his letter announcing the tariff, US President Donald Trump said the measure was due, among other things, to what he called a "witch hunt" against former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is a defendant in a case before the Supreme Federal Court (STF) for attempted coup d'état.