Embraer became the exception in Donald Trump’s tariff offensive. The U.S. raised duties on Brazil to 50% but kept them at 10% for the Brazilian planemaker. Now, with 60% of its revenue from North America, the company is negotiating directly with Washington to bring the rate down to zero.
On Sept. 10, Embraer is set to announce a “landmark” in Washington. Expectations center on a multibillion-dollar plan for factories and maintenance centers in the U.S. — a gesture aligned with Trump’s reindustrialization agenda.
Chief executive Francisco Gomes Neto — self-styled Chief Tariff Officer — has stepped up lobbying in Washington. Embraer has secured support from American Airlines and suppliers such as GE, which provides engines, and Collins Aerospace, which supplies systems. The company already generates an $8 billion trade surplus for the U.S. over five years and sustains 12,500 direct and indirect American jobs.
The new deal may tie Embraer to political and industrial commitments that are hard to unwind. Years ago, Boeing tried to buy the company, only to abandon the plan amid its own crisis. Now Embraer is close to buying, with Trump’s help, its own passport to Americanization.