Reuters exclusively reports Brazil's new president's tariff and tax plans

Reuters scored a strong exclusive on December 30, just two days before President Dilma Rousseff took office, that she was planning a surprising shift in trade policy with global implication. The new government was considering targeted tax breaks and tariff increases in order to help manufacturers cope with the strong real currency. The story was based on well-placed sources that took readers inside Rousseff’s recent meetings with her transition teams, where she said she was “acutely concerned” about the real’s recent rise and prepared to respond. The story highlighted how such policies were an important break from the previous government, that trade with fellow BRIC member China could suffer, and that such protectionism, if widely imitated elsewhere, could pose risks to the global economy. Hours after the story ran, Finance Minister Guido Mantega confirmed to reporters that “measures in the trade sector” were being planned to deal with the consequences of the real’s rise. The story was republished at length in the next day’s International Herald Tribune.