Iowa lieutenant governor touts Brazilian trade mission

DES MOINES - Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds heard complaints this week from businesses about high taxes and stifling government regulation and red tape - but this time, it was from companies in Brazil that she encountered as part of an Iowa trade delegation she led to São Paulo and Ribeirão Preto.

'There are a lot of complexities to doing business in Brazil,” Reynolds told Iowa reporters over a teleconference hookup from Brazil, where she was wrapping up a trade mission that began April 25.

Despite the tax climate and requirements that a percentage of parts be made in Brazil, Reynolds said the Iowa companies in all industry sectors that made the South American trip 'think there still is continued opportunity to increase their business here in the country of Brazil. There is tremendous potential for growth.”

The lieutenant governor said there also was interest among Brazilians for direct investment opportunities in Iowa during talks with an association that represents 150,000 major companies in Brazil.

The country was Iowa's fifth-largest trading partner last year with exports exceeding $500 million in manufactured and value-added goods in 2014.

'I was just so struck by the similarities between Iowa and especially São Paulo,” she said. 'We're both leaders in agriculture (and) food processing, as well as the industrial opportunities. There are a lot of opportunities for synergy between the state of Iowa and Brazil.”

Reynolds said Brazilian business executives and others were struck by Iowa's partnership between state government and business in working together to address infrastructure and skilled workforce needs and tax-reduction efforts.

'The government (in Brazil) is not that business-friendly,” she noted.

Reynolds said the Iowa delegation met with government and industry association officials, attended briefings on each market and Growing Iowa's Global Partnerships events, toured ethanol production plants using sugar cane and encountered numerous Iowa connections - including a plant using Pella-based Vermeer equipment to grind sugar cane and an agricultural show with a John Deere tractor that was made in Waterloo.

'It's been an exceptional trip,” said Reynolds, who returns to Iowa this weekend. 'It's been a busy trip.”

Reynolds noted the economy in Brazil 'is not doing very well” right now, but she said the Iowa visit to build on a previous 2012 visit to the country led by Gov. Terry Branstad nurtured important relationships in areas of mutual interest, particularly renewable energy and biofuel industries, where Brazil is looking to move into the next generation of cellulosic and biomass production.

'It opens doors and it makes the connection for them to kind of wade through some of the challenges of doing business here in Brazil,” she said.

Officials in the governor's office noted that taxpayer dollars were not spent on the lieutenant governor's travel, which was paid by private donations to the Iowa Economic Development Authority Foundation.