Biofuel production gathers pace in South America

US, EU and South American relations appear set for a decidedly ‘interesting’ 2025 as ‘drill, baby drill’ Donald Trump returns to the White House.
From a Brazilian perspective everything seemed be going so well towards the end of last year with Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and US President Joe Biden (Commander in Chief at the time) coming together to launch a new Brazil/US Partnership for Energy Transition.
Three weeks later, Brazil joined Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay in concluding negotiations for the MERCOSUR/EU Partnership Agreement which was two decades in the making and was welcomed by the Brazilian Government as a ‘transformative’ advance from both an economic and political perspective.
How these two major developments will be viewed and treated by the new White House administration is open to question, however, judging by the rhetoric of the past few months used by the returning US President.
For business leaders and investors, the transition from Biden to Trump raises crucial trade, tariff and climate change issues, not least in relation to the future pathway for South American biofuels.
One argument,...