The United States has now completed the process to recognize Cachaça as a distinctive product of Brazil, as a result of a 2012 exchange of letters with Brazilian Minister of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade Fernando Pimentel. Cachaça, a distilled spirit made from fermented sugarcane, is the base ingredient of the Brazilian national cocktail, the caipirinha, and increasingly popular in the United States. It is also the third largest spirits category in the world and the American market for this product has quadrupled in the last five years. This week, the Department of Treasury’s Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau published a final rule making the “distinctive product” designation official. Under the 2012 understanding, Brazil now has 30 days to issue a similar regulation to recognize Tennessee Whiskey and Bourbon Whiskey as distinctive products of the United States.
The agreement to recognize these distilled spirits as distinctive products of our respective countries is one of several agreements that were set in motion during Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff’s first official visit to the United States in 2012. The distilled spirits agreement is a positive development for both countries’ industries and reflects our Governments’ commitment to stronger bilateral trade ties.
