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multilateral trade liberalisation organisation, the WTO. 488 In pursuit of the latter,relations with smaller markets were downgraded, while those with traditional tradingpartners were prioritised. In fact, the WTO was underlined in Brazil’s nationalplanning document, PPA 2000-2003, as a vital component of the country’seconomic diplomacy. 489 It may be argued that under Cardoso, Brazil’s perception ofits place in the international balance of power was a conservative one. This wasunderpinned by a precarious exit from a dire domestic economic situation,engineered by Cardoso himself during his tenure as Finance Minister in the lastyears of the Franco administration.As far as relations with the US were concerned, Cardoso enjoyed warm personalrelations with US president Bill Clinton, and more broadly recognised the primacyof the United States in international affairs following the fall of Communism andthe successful Gulf War campaign of 1990. Brazil maintained a ‘criticalconvergence’, 490 however, which entailed broad agreement with the dominantliberal tendencies in international society, alongside a strong adherence to the goalof increasing Brazil’s autonomy and freedom of action in international affairs. Inthis way, Cardoso was hesitant to be seen to be fulfilling US policy interests inSouth America, such as assisting Colombia in its battle against FARC.Cardoso’s foreign policy did not stray far from the traditional paradigm of Brazilianforeign policy, based on historico-legalism and economic diplomacy. It tended moretoward a ‘moderate multilateralism’, and a dialogue with a number of internationalpartners, while emphasising the primacy of the US among international partners. 491The clear divide between the multilateral trade negotiating tactics of the Cardosoand Lula administrations was the shift away from “arid technocratic negotiations488 Ibid., 56 and 70. This stance – multilateralism preferred to regionalism - was adoptedfor three reasons, according to Celso Lafer: its better prospects for democracy; thepossibility of joint action spread over a larger number of actors; and, the possibility of‘variable geometry’ or conducting liberalisation at variable paces, according to nationalrequirements.489 Antônio Carlos Lessa, Leandro Freitas Couto and Rogério de Souza Farias, “Políticaexterna planejada: os planos plurianuais e a ação internacional do Brasil, de Cardoso aLula (1995-2008)”, Revista Brasileira de Política Internacional, 52, Issue 1 (2009): 95.490 This term was coined by Luiz Felipe Lampreia, and cited in Vigevani and Cepaluni,Changing Times, 58.491 Paulo Roberto de Almeida, “Comparing two foreign policies: FHC and Lula inperpsective”, unpublished document. February and March, 2004. Accessed:http://www.pralmeida.org/05DocsPRA/1213CompTwoForeignPol.htm.203