SAO PAULO, Aug 7: Brazil and the United States are seeking to deepen a partnership in energy, especially by promoting biofuels and other alternatives to oil, US Deputy Secretary of Energy Jeffrey Kupfer said here Wednesday.

But while ethanol biofuel was one of the main topics discussed with officials during his three-day visit to Brazil, there was no change to US import tariff on Brazilian ethanol, he told reporters.

Brazil’s biofuel industry argues that its ethanol, derived from sugarcane, runs cleaner and more efficiently than the US sort, made from corn, and is less of a concern to critics who claim that biofuel production is reducing the amount of farm output dedicated to food production.

Kupfer stressed that Brazil and the US were looking to “deepen that relationship and partnership” founded in 2003.

—AFP