Obama expands trade with Brazil

“I know that there are a couple of areas where we’re going to be announcing agreements — an agreement on trade and economic cooperation, an open skies agreement. I know those are two issues that everybody was advocating,” Obama said.

An “open skies” agreement should help expand passenger and cargo flights between the United States and Brazil since it will likely remove any government restrictions on flight routes, pricing and air carriers’ capacity.

In addition, work on streamlining the visa process between America and Brazil is in progress, though some obstacles remain, the president said.

“I know there’s been some work done on extending visas for both countries, and although we haven’t gotten all that worked through, we are making progress, and we will continue to do so,” Obama said.

The new trade deals fit in with the president’s effort to make the South America trip about U.S. jobs and trade promotion. In his weekly address, Obama said Brazil helps support 250,000 U.S. jobs from American exports to the country.