(Bloomberg) -- The Trump administration plans to promote Brazil’s bid to join the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, reversing a previous commitment to give priority to Argentina’s candidacy to the world body, according to three people familiar with the situation.

The new U.S. stance has already been conveyed to Brazilian officials and to the OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to discuss the matter in public. The U.S. position is now set to be communicated on Wednesday to the OECD board in Paris, where the organization is based, they said.

The White House, Brazil’s presidency and foreign ministry, as well as the OECD did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The change in U.S. policy was first reported by Brazilian magazine Epoca and newspaper Folha de S.Paulo, which did not say how they got the information.

U.S. support to Brazil was announced with fanfare by President Donald Trump last March, during a joint press conference with his Brazilian counterpart Jair Bolsonaro at the White House. Access to the group of 36 rich countries would help attract investment to Latin America’s largest economy and raise its global profile.Yet in a letter sent by U.S Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Gurria in August and seen by Bloomberg, Washington only backed the bids from Argentina and Romania, rejecting a request to discuss further enlargement of the OECD. At the time, Trump said he still backed Brazil’s entry but never formally changed his stance. Critics of Bolsonaro cited the episode as evidence that Brazil was getting no benefit from the president’s full-alignment with Trump.

Read More: Trump Says He Still Supports Brazil in OECD, Despite Letter

It is not clear if the U.S. is only putting Argentina’s bid behind that of Brazil or whether it continues to support the country at all. Since Pompeo’s letter, Argentina has politically moved to the left, with the inauguration of President Alberto Fernandez last month. A government official in Buenos Aires declined to comment.

Joining the OECD has been a badge of honor for countries looking to show the international community that their nations have economically prospered. Brazil submitted its application to the group in May 2017.

--With assistance from Jordan Fabian, Patrick Gillespie and Jorgelina do Rosario.

To contact the reporter on this story: Samy Adghirni in Brasilia Newsroom at sadghirni@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Juan Pablo Spinetto at jspinetto@bloomberg.net, ;Julia Leite at jleite3@bloomberg.net, Walter Brandimarte

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