New findings reveal how economic shocks from trade can polarize opinions at the local level in Brazil.

### Research Context ###

This study investigates the political economy of international trade preferences by examining localized trade shocks between China and Brazil. We analyze residents' and legislators' responses to these shocks across different regions.

### Key Findings ###

* Residents from areas harmed by Chinese import competition held significantly more negative views about economic ties with China.

* Conversely, those in regions benefiting from Chinese exports maintained positive opinions.

* Legislators also showed partisan alignment with their economically affected constituencies' perspectives on trade.

### Political Implications ###

Our results demonstrate that localized trade impacts can strongly shape public opinion and political representatives' views at the meso-level - between individual voters and national policy makers. This challenges conventional models focused solely on aggregate economic effects or individual income changes.

This paper advances theories of trade preference formation by establishing clear conditions for how constituency interests translate into legislative perspectives regarding international trade relationships.