BRASILIA, Sept 3 (Reuters) – Brazil’s Congress voted on Thursday to uphold an executive order by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva that scrapped federal import taxes on foreign purchases worth up to $50, handing a victory to the leftist leader’s reelection bid.
• Lula had signed the order in May, reversing course on a highly unpopular levy ahead of the October election, when he will seek a fourth non-consecutive term.
• The move aimed to lower the cost of goods bought on cross-border e-commerce platforms widely used by lower-income Brazilians.
• But the order was issued as a provisional measure, giving both houses of Congress 120 days, or until September 8, to either uphold or strike down the order.
• Government officials previously backed the tax, arguing it would boost Brazil’s industry against foreign platforms such as Alibaba Group’s AliExpress, Sea Ltd-owned Shopee and Shein.
• However, multiple surveys had suggested the tax was highly unpopular. An AtlasIntel/Bloomberg poll from April showed that 60% of those surveyed opposed the taxation.
(Reporting by Maria Carolina Marcello; Writing by Fernando Cardoso, Editing by Natalia Siniawski)
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