50 Years on the Front Lines of Brazilian Trade with Roberto Giannetti

In this episode of Brazil (is not) for Beginners, Isaac Matzner sits down with Roberto Giannetti da Fonseca, economist, trade diplomat, and one of the most seasoned voices in Brazilian international trade. With a career spanning half a century — across both government and the private sector — Roberto offers a rare firsthand account of how Brazil's economic relationship with the world has evolved, and the forces that will shape it going forward.

Roberto graduated as an economist from USP just as the first oil shock hit the world economy, and found himself on what he calls a "trade battlefield" — a generation of Brazilians called upon to build a trade surplus and keep the country solvent. What followed was 50 years on the front lines: co-founding Cotia Trading with his best friend and growing it from zero into Brazil's second-largest exporter by 1985, just behind Vale. From airlifting chilled beef to Nigeria and building Guaraná bottling plants to compete with Coca-Cola, to selling Brazilian steel to a pre-industrial China, Roberto's early career reads like an adventure in global commerce.

The episode moves through Brazil's most turbulent economic decades — the debt crisis of the 1980s, hyperinflation, the Collor Plan, and the Plano Real — with Roberto as both a witness and an architect of policy. He eventually joined the FHC government as head of CAMEX, Brazil's foreign trade policy body, where he created APEX, championed floating exchange rates before they were popular, and used export taxes on raw leather to force-build a domestic shoe industry. The conversation closes with Roberto's vision for Brazil's role in the 21st century: food superpower, biodiversity guardian, and emerging energy giant — and the infrastructure gaps that still stand in the way.

Other key topics include:

How the 1973 oil shock turned exporting into a patriotic mission for Roberto's generation

Building Cotia Trading from zero into Brazil's second-largest exporter in under a decade

The Nigeria chapter: airlifting beef, building 79 cold stores, and launching Guaraná to beat Coca-Cola

Selling Brazilian steel to China in 1985 — when Beijing still ran on bicycles

Why hyperinflation quietly destroyed Brazilian export competitiveness from 1987 onward

The debt crisis, the moratorium of 1987, and Roberto's case to European ambassadors in Geneva

The Collor Plan, the Plano Real, and the three pillars that finally stabilized the economy

How Roberto went from loudest outside critic of FHC's exchange rate policy to head of CAMEX

Creating APEX and using an export tax on raw leather to build Brazil's shoe industry

The case for open economies — and why protectionism makes industries lazy

Brazil's three missions for the 21st century: food superpower, biodiversity guardian, energy giant

Why cultural fluency — not just market knowledge — is non-negotiable for anyone doing business in Brazil

And lots more!