The United States and Brazil will expand cooperation on biofuels to encompass aviation, leaders from both countries announced over the weekend, even as both criticized trade barriers between the two that limit the flow of Brazil's sugarcane-based ethanol into the U.S. auto fuels market.

"Even as we focus on oil in the near term, we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that the only long-term solution to the world's dependence on fossil fuels is clean energy technology," President Obama said at a business summit in Brasilia.

"And that's why the United States and Brazil are deepening our cooperation on biofuels, and why we're launching a U.S.-Brazil Green Economy Partnership, because we know that the development of clean energy is one of the best ways to create new jobs and industries in both our nations."

Noting that more than half the vehicles in Brazil run on biofuels and that the nation relies heavily on hydropower, Obama said trade on clean energy products like those and American-made technologies like advanced batteries can help both nations grow.

Under a new agreement that expands on a more general 2007 memorandum of understanding on biofuels, President Obama and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said the two countries will cooperate to speed the development of aviation biofuels in order to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions associated with air transport today.

The countries committed to strengthening private-sector partnerships and research work, establishing common standards and specifications for aviation biofuels and working together in multilateral venues "in order to prevent international barriers to biofuels trade and development."

Among the U.S. agencies involved in the expanded collaboration will be the Federal Aviation Administration and the Departments of Energy, Agriculture and Defense. The U.S.-based Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative will also be involved through dialogue with the Brazilian Alliance for Aviation Biofuels, according to the agreement. Funding is to be provided on a project-by-project basis, it said.

Marcos Jank, president and CEO of UNICA, Brazil's sugarcane industry association, welcomed the partnership while indirectly criticizing the current bilateral trade regime. "This is a natural move for the top two renewable energy producers and users in the world," he said. "Brazil and the United States should be leading by example, working together to advance on all fronts, including breaking down trade barriers that hinder the global expansion of biofuels."

The United States imposes a 54-cent-per-gallon tariff on imported ethanol that primarily affects Brazil's industry. Designed in part to keep U.S. subsidies for corn ethanol from benefiting overseas growers, the tariff exceeds the level of that subsidy by 9 cents per gallon.

Efficiency, nuclear in focus

The two leaders also announced a "strategic energy dialogue" between the countries that would be targeting to expanding Brazilian oil and natural gas production, including deepwater production, and cooperation on energy efficiency to focus in part on helping Brazilian consumers access energy-saving building products.

The two governments agreed to share information on energy efficiency audits for industrial facilities and retrofit financing strategies.

Obama and Rousseff also discussed information-sharing on nuclear energy and security, the White House said.