Brazil central bank chief: Pix is a public service, not a trade barrier

By: Marcela Ayres Source: Reuters, Brasilia

Overview

Brazil's Pix, one of the world's most successful instant-payment systems, has become a flashpoint between Brasília and Washington as the Trump administration aims to protect U.S. firms from the model's growing appeal in dozens of countries.

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer named Pix, operated by Brazil's central bank, as one of the barriers to trade that he cited to justify fresh 25% tariffs on imports from Brazil taking effect this week.

U.S. Position

"We're not asking Brazil to get rid of Pix," a senior Trump administration official said. However, Washington is pushing to avoid a situation in which "Pix gets special treatment simply because it's owned and operated by the government," the official added.

USTR documents state that Brazil's practices "may undermine the competitiveness of U.S. companies engaged in digital trade and electronic payment services."

Brazil's Response

Brazilian officials have long argued the criticism is aimed at protecting U.S. credit card companies.

At a news conference last week, central bank chief Gabriel Galipolo dismissed complaints about Pix's impact on card revenues and market access as absurd. He noted:

• The number of people using credit cards had increased in absolute terms because Pix pushed many Brazilians to open bank accounts.
• Pix is a public service, not a competitor.

"It would be kind of like saying that creating basic sanitation hurt the revenues of those who own water trucks," Galipolo said.

Pix's Growth and Impact

The central bank launched Pix in 2020, and it quickly became the dominant payment method in Latin America's largest economy, overtaking card transactions by its third year of operation.

Key statistics:

• Pix now accounts for more than half of all transactions in Brazil by volume.
• It has approximately 170 million users, or 80% of the country's population.

Pix enables real-time transfers between accounts through banking apps, combining free person-to-person payments with significantly lower costs and faster transactions for businesses, bypassing much of the traditional card-payments chain.

International Appeal

While similar services exist in several countries—including India's UPI and FedNow in the United States—none has matched the explosive uptake of Pix.

Through the first half of this year, Brazil's central bank signed agreements to share information about Pix with 65 international counterparts, from rich economies such as Germany and Canada to emerging-market peers such as South Africa and Turkey.

"Pix is really a model and the direction everyone is moving toward," said Galipolo.

Industry Reactions

U.S. Payment Companies

Mastercard and Visa have both warned investors in their securities filings that networks such as Pix could challenge their business.

The Information Technology Industry Council (ITI), a Washington-based trade group for Visa, Mastercard, Meta and other tech companies, has urged USTR for several years to level the playing field for its members in Brazil, according to its website. ITI argued that Pix should be subject to a more competitively neutral regulatory framework, and that international payment firms should enjoy equal treatment and access under Brazil's payment-system rules.

Visa, Mastercard and ITI did not respond to requests for comment.

Brazilian Industry Group

Abec, an industry group representing payment companies in Brazil, said the existence of multiple payment schemes and models—such as the credit and debit card ecosystem and Pix, among others—was highly beneficial for consumers and society.

Unanswered Questions

It remains unclear why the Trump administration decided to take action now. Card transaction volumes have continued to grow in Brazil, even as Pix has expanded.