Folks,

Greetings from the Burgh, where we are trying to wrap our heads around the effect that a 50% tariff on Brazilian goods will have on my ability to get Guaraná.

Trump Places 50% Tariff on Brazil in Retaliation for Bolsonaro Facing Trial

In an unprecedented move, Trump raised the tariff on all products made in Brazil from 10% to 50%.

Unlike the 21 other countries that were set to face “reciprocal tariffs” this week, Brazil was not on the list of countries that would see their tariffs rise above 10%.

However, Trump has been closely aligned with Bolsonaro, who refused to recognize the victory of Biden. Trump announced that the tariff was political retaliation for placing former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on trial for his attempt to assassinate Brazilian President Lula in 2023.

Trump defended Bolsonaro, saying that the trial was a “witch hunt.”

“The way that Brazil has treated former President Bolsonaro, a Highly Respected Leader throughout the World during his Term, including by the United States, is an international disgrace,” wrote Trump in a letter announcing the tariffs.

President Lula vowed to fight the tariffs and continue taking on fascists in Brazil, the second largest democracy in the Americas.

“He needs to know that the world has changed. We don’t want an emperor,” Lula told reporters today. He also announced that Brazil would implement a reciprocal 50% tariff on American goods.

Ironically, the tariffs will more likely hurt Americans more than Brazilians as Americans purchase $4 billion more a year in Brazilian products than Americans sell to Brazil.

For more, check out The New York Times.

NEA Cuts Ties to Zionist Group ADL

In an unprecedented move, the National Education Association, the largest union in the country, decided to cut ties with the Zionist group the AntiDefamation League, over their targeting of teachers’ union activists protesting the genocide in Palestine. From Mondoweiss:

In a momentous vote, the National Education Association’s 7,000-member policymaking body cut all ties with the Anti-Defamation League. On July 6, the NEA’s national Representative Assembly approved New Business Item 39, committing that the NEA ‘will not use, endorse, or publicize materials from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), such as its curricular materials or statistics.’ The reasoning: ‘Despite its reputation as a civil rights organization, the ADL is not the social justice educational partner it claims to be.’

The ADL has been a ubiquitous presence in U.S. schools for nearly forty years, pushing curriculum, direct programming, and teacher training into K-12 schools and increasingly into universities – often over the objections of students, parents, and educators. While the ADL has positioned itself as an anti-bias organization (until recently publicly abandoning much of that work), it has increasingly been understood as policing and repressing social justice movements, and deploying “ civil rights talk ” to derail change.

For more, check out Mondoweiss.

Help Us Cover Internationalism in Labor Movement

While many labor journalists focus only on the United States, Payday has always recognized that we are part of a broader movement. We were the only publication on the left to cover Lula all the way from Sáo Bernardo dos Campos to the Oval Office ,

At a time, when American democracy is under attack, it’s more vital than ever that we look to our comrades overseas for inspiration to fight in these times.

Donate to help us cover international solidarity as workers fight facism worldwide.

Philly City Strike Ends as Shit Piles Up in Roving Garbage Strikes Nationwide

Late yesterday, AFSCME announced it had settled a nearly week-long strike, including thousands of garbage workers in Philadelphia. The union, which argued for a 32% wage increase over 4 years, instead won a 14% wage increase.

However, the images of garbage piled up on the sidewalks in Philadelphia are likely to inspire strikes of garbage workers across the country.

Currently, the Teamsters and others are engaged in a series of roving strikes nationwide against Republic Services, the second-largest private provider of waste management. Garbage workers strikes have spread to Illinois, Georgia, Washington State, and Massachusetts.

In the suburbs of Massachusetts, more than 400,000 residents have been affected by a strike of the giant private waste company, Republic Services.

“Right now they’re just not getting a fair deal,” Congressman Seth Moulton told WHDH. “This company has a reputation of giving people a raw deal across the country, but it’s hitting home right here in Massachusetts today.”

Last week, Republic Services garbage workers in Olympia, Washington went on strike. Now the strike is starting to expand across Washington State.

“These workers perform dangerous, high-stakes jobs that protect our communities and environment every single day,” Victor Mineros, Secretary-Treasurer of Local 396 and Director of the Teamsters Solid Waste and Recycling Division told My Northwest about the national movement. “They deserve a contract that respects their contributions — not lowball proposals and corporate stonewalling. The company must bargain in good faith.”

In the Bay Area of California, the strike has spread to major cities including Richmond, Stockton, and Fairfield.

For more, check out KTVU.

In Yakima Valley, Pandemic-Era Strikes Continue to Have Impact

During the early days of the pandemic, Payday Report covered an inspiring strike movement in the Yakima Valley of Washington State when farmworkers at 13 different apple-packing farms and warehouses went on strike. From Cascade PBS:

“After several weeks, the strikes ended in early June as worker committees came to agreements with their employers. Workers came away with promises of improved enforcement of safety protocols and communication around COVID, plus hazard pay for taking on the added risks of working during the pandemic — major victories for workers,” [political director of Familias Unidas Por La Justicia Edgar] Franks said.

“That was a big win,” he said. “We were seeing it every day: people under stress figuring out and solving problems.”

[Monson Fruit supervisor Armida] Rivera, the supervisor, was part of the worker committee involved in negotiations at Monson Fruit. She said her experiences with Franks and Familias Unidas helped her grow as an organizer.

Franks helped her and other workers realize the power they had to advocate for themselves, she said. She still considers Franks a mentor. “We’re working there from sunup to sundown … and we’re, like, so underpaid that we have to work every day, and we live [paycheck to paycheck],” she said. “Edgar [taught] us how to do more than we thought we could.”

For more, check out Cascade PBS

NFL Players Association Accused of Illegally Covering-Up Collusion by NFL

Finally, a shocking expose from ESPN revealed that the leaders of the NFL Players Association illegally kept secret from their union members, players in the NFL, details of how NFL owners illegally colluded to keep salaries low. From ESPN:

The NFL and senior leaders of the NFL Players Association struck an unusual confidentiality agreement that hid the details of an arbitration decision from players, including a finding that league executives had urged team owners to reduce guaranteed player compensation, multiple sources told ESPN.

On Jan. 14, arbitrator Christopher Droney ruled there wasn’t sufficient evidence of collusion by owners in contract negotiations with quarterbacks after the record, fully guaranteed contract signed by quarterback Deshaun Watson in 2022. Any such collusion to keep salaries down would violate the collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and the union.

But Droney concluded that the NFLPA showed “by a clear preponderance of the evidence” that commissioner Roger Goodell and the league’s general counsel Jeff Pash had urged owners to restrict guaranteed money in player contracts.

The confidentiality agreement had kept details of the 61-page ruling a secret until two weeks ago, when the “Pablo Torre Finds Out” podcast published the document and created a stir among union members. Some players told ESPN that they were surprised by details in the ruling and that they didn’t understand why the union hadn’t shared the ruling with them.

For more, check out ESPN.

Links & News Elsewhere

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US president Donald Trump hosts then president Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil at Mar-a-lago, in Palm Beach, Florida, in March 2020. Photograph: TJ Kirkpatrick/The New York Times

US president Donald Trump has said he plans to impose a 50 per cent tariff on all Brazilian imports, partly in retaliation for what he sees as a “witch hunt” against his political ally, former president Jair Bolsonaro, who is facing trial for attempting a coup.

In a letter to Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Mr Trump wrote that the new tariffs would take effect August 1st.

“The way that Brazil has treated former President Bolsonaro, a Highly Respected Leader throughout the World during his Term, including by the United States, is an international disgrace.”

In his letter, Mr Trump said the 50 per cent tariff was needed to “have the Level Playing Field we must have with your Country” and “to rectify the grave injustices of the current regime.”

He also incorrectly said that the United States had a trade deficit with Brazil. For years, the United States has generally maintained a trade surplus with Brazil, including a $650 million surplus in the first three months of 2025, on $20 billion in trade between the two nations, according to the American Chamber of Commerce for Brazil.

Mr Trump wrote that the tariffs were also in response to “SECRET and UNLAWFUL Censorship Orders to US Social Media platforms” and that he had ordered US officials to open a trade investigation into Brazil for “continued attacks on the Digital Trade activities of American Companies.”

Justice Alexandre de Moraes, the Brazilian supreme court justice who is overseeing the case against Mr Bolsonaro, has ordered tech companies to take down hundreds of accounts that he said threatened Brazil’s democracy. His moves have made him a top target of the right in Brazil and the United States.

On Monday, Mr Trump publicly criticised the criminal case against Mr Bolsonaro, which focuses on the former president’s attempts to hold on to power after losing Brazil’s 2022 election.

[ EU and US on brink of tariff deal to avoid trade warOpens in new window ]

Mr Lula quickly fired back. “I think it’s very wrong and very irresponsible for a president to be threatening others on social media,” the Brazilian president told reporters Monday. “People have to learn that respect is a good thing.”

He added about Mr Trump: “He needs to know that the world has changed. We don’t want an emperor.”

Brazil’s supreme court is widely expected to convict Mr Bolsonaro later this year, potentially leading to prison time.

In January, Mr Bolsonaro said he hoped Mr Trump would come to his aid, though he did not clarify how.

After he lost the 2022 election, Mr Bolsonaro questioned the results — despite a review from Brazil’s military that supported them — and looked to Brazil’s Constitution to find ways to prevent Mr Lula from taking office. That included meeting with military commanders about taking control of the government, which the majority of them refused to do. – New York Times

2025 The New York Times Company

Published by Virginia Martínez 10 de julio, 2025

(AFP) President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that, effective August 1, he will impose a 50% tariff on copper for “national security” reasons. Copper is a vital metal for energy transition and other technologies.

Trump posted on Truth Social, “I am announcing a 50% tariff on copper, effective August 1, 2025.”

He said the move follows a “robust national security assessment.”

Trump cited the country’s need to build semiconductors, aircraft, ships, ammunition, data centers, and missile defense systems—among other projects where copper is essential.

“Copper is the second most used material by the Department of Defense!” the president added.

In an effort to balance trade relations, Trump imposed a minimum 10% tariff on imports in April—even on goods that can’t be produced domestically—though some exemptions were made, notably for gold, copper, oil, and medicines.

On Tuesday, he reversed those exemptions and added a 200% tariff on pharmaceuticals, along with the levy on copper.

His threat to impose a 50% tariff on copper caused the metal’s price to surge nearly 10% on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday, surpassing its all-time high.

Traders worry that if these tariffs take effect, the prices of products made with copper—like automobiles and refrigerators—will increase.

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump said he planned to impose a steep 50% tariff on all imports from Brazil as he accused the South American country of carrying out a “witch hunt” in the prosecution of Brazil’s former president, Jair Bolsonaro, a Trump ally.

It marks the highest tariff rate Trump announced in a flurry of letters to more than 20 countries this week before a new Aug. 1 deadline, when he said the higher tariffs would go into effect.

Trump, in a July 9 letter to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, called the Brazilian President’s treatment of Bolsonaro “an international disgrace.” He said the higher U.S. tariffs on Brazilian goods are “due in part to Brazil’s insidious attacks on Free Elections and the Fundamental Free Speech Rights of Americans.” He accused Brazil’s Supreme Court of issuing hundreds of “SECRET and UNLAWFUL censorship orders” threatening American social media companies.

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Trump also cited Brazil’s “very unfair trade relationship” with the United States, mirroring the criticism he has leveled at other nations.

More: ‘No extensions will be granted’: Trump vows new tariff deadline is a firm one

President Donald Trump listens as African Leaders deliver remarks during a multilateral lunch in the State Dining Room of the White House July 9, 2025 in Washington.

Bolsonaro, who served as Brazil’s president from 2019 to 2023, faces trial in his country on allegations he plotted a coup to stop Lula from taking office after winning Brazil’s 2022 election. Bolsonaro has denied the charges, labeling the case against him “political persecution.”

Trump, who was friendly with Bolsonaro when their presidential terms overlapped, faced his own criminal charges in the United States for trying to overturn the 2020 election. Those federal charges were dropped after Trump was elected to a second term in the White House in 2024.

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More: Trump hits Philippines and 6 more countries with higher tariffs

former President Jair Bolsonaro attends a rally on Paulista Avenue in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on June 29, 2025.

In April, the Trump administration imposed a 10% universal tariff on goods from most countries, including Brazil.

Significantly higher “reciprocal” tariffs that Trump tailored for each country were set to go into effect on July 9 after he paused the levies for 90 days in April. But the president this week extended the deadline to Aug. 1 as his administration struggled to secure trade deals with other nations.

Trump this week started issuing new tariff rates for countries that had previously ranged between 20% and 40% before Trump’s new high mark with Brazil.

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“Please understand that the 50% number is far less than what is needed to have the Level Playing Field we must have with your Country. And it is necessary to have this to rectify the injustices of the current regime,” Trump wrote in the letter Lula.

He added that his administration wouldn’t impose the tariff on Brazilian imports if Brazilian companies decide to build or manufacture products in the United States.

Contributing: Reuters

Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump pledges 50% tariff on Brazil, citing ‘witch hunt’ of Bolsonaro

CNN —

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday threatened Brazil with a crippling tariff of 50% starting August 1, according to a letter he sent to the country’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

In the letter posted on Truth Social, Trump alleged Lula is undertaking a “Witch Hunt that should end IMMEDIATELY!” over charges against its right-wing former president, Jair Bolsonaro.

Bolsonaro, who has bragged about his closeness with Trump, is facing trial for allegedly attempting to stage a coup against Lula.

Lula vowed to reciprocate if Trump follows through with his threat.

“Brazil is a sovereign nation with independent institutions and will not accept any form of tutelage,” Lula said in a post on X.

“Any measure to increase tariffs unilaterally will be responded to in light of Brazil’s Law of Economic Reciprocity,” he added.

This marks the first time in months another country has threatened to match Trump’s tariff threat.

Unlike the 21 other countries that have received letters from Trump this week, Brazil ran a $6.8 billion trade surplus with the US last year, meaning the US exported more goods to there than it imported from there. Top US exports to the South American country last year included aircraft and spacecraft, fuels, industrial machinery like nuclear reactors, and electrical equipment, according to US Census Bureau data. So a 50% Brazilian tariff on American goods could severely harm these industries.

Imports from Brazil to the US have faced a minimum 10% tariff since Trump’s announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs in April – the baseline rate he has applied to most goods from most countries during the 90-day negotiation period, which has now been extended to August 1.

This is not the first time Trump has used the threat of tariffs to try to change other countries’ domestic policy decisions.

Earlier this year, he threatened 25% tariffs on Colombian exports that would grow to 50% if the country didn’t accept deportees from the US. (Colombia ultimately accepted the deportees and avoided those tariffs.) Trump also imposed tariffs on goods from Mexico, Canada and China over the role he alleges they play in facilitating illegal migration to the US and enabling fentanyl to reach the country.

But despite Trump’s discontent with the Bolsonaro trial, he wrote that “there will be no Tariff if Brazil, or companies within your Country, decide to build or manufacture product within the United States.” Trump’s made nearly identical offers in a slew of other letters he sent to heads of state this week.

Trump’s growing ‘hit list’

Other recipients of tariff letters on Wednesday included the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Moldova, Brunei, Algeria, Libya and Iraq, with rates going as high as 30% on goods they ship to the United States. The new tariffs go into effect August 1, pending negotiations.

The rates Trump said would be imposed on goods from Sri Lanka, Moldova, Iraq and Libya were lower than those he announced in early April. The rates on goods from the Philippines and Brunei were higher, compared to April levels. Meanwhile, the rate on goods from Algeria was the same (30%) as April levels.

The US and various trading partners have been negotiating new trade agreements since Trump announced so-called “reciprocal” tariffs back in April. Yet few deals have come to fruition.

During a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Trump said “a letter means a deal.” But that doesn’t appear to be how some countries are perceiving the missives.

In all the letters except the one sent to Brazil’s Lula, Trump wrote that he takes particular issue with the trade deficits the United States runs with other nations, meaning America buys more goods from there compared to how much American businesses export to those countries. Trump also said the tariffs would be set in response to other policies that he deems are impeding American goods from being sold abroad.

Trump has encouraged world leaders to manufacture goods in the United States to avoid tariffs. If they chose to retaliate by slapping higher tariffs on American goods, Trump threatened to tack that onto the rate charged on their country’s goods shipped to the United States.

Trump has now sent 22 letters on tariff rates to heads of government this week, and more could still come.

JPMorgan economists said in a note to clients on Wednesday titled “Another day, another step closer to Liberation Day” that the 50% tariff threat on Brazilian goods was “most surprising.” (“Liberation Day” refers to April 2, the day Trump held a Rose Garden event to announce “reciprocal” tariff rates.)

“It is possible these tariffs will never be implemented, as some in the market are hoping for,” the economists said, referring to Trump’s latest threats.

On Thursday, Indonesia, one of the 14 countries that received Trump’s tariff letters on Monday, said it has reached an agreement with the US to intensify trade negotiations in the next three weeks. Both countries also see potential in expanding cooperation in sectors such as critical minerals, the economic ministry of Southeast Asia’s largest economy said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the Philippines said it is “concerned” about Trump’s decision to impose a 20% tariff on its exports to the US, while vowing to continue negotiations. A delegation will visit the US next week in a bid to lower the levy, Frederick Go, an adviser to the nation’s president, told reporters.

Wednesday at 12:01 a.m. ET was the initial deadline Trump set three months ago for countries to ink trade deals with the US or instantly face higher tariff rates. However, on Monday he extended that deadline to August 1.

Bolsonaro, often dubbed the “Trump of the Tropics,” is on trial in Brazil for charges related to an alleged plot to overturn the 2022 election results. He and dozens of associates have been charged with attempting a coup d’état, which prosecutors allege involved a plan to potentially assassinate elected President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Bolsonaro has denied wrongdoing.

Copper tariffs announced

Trump late Wednesday also announced a 50% tariff on copper imports, as he had promised on Tuesday during a Cabinet meeting. The tariff announcement comes after Trump on February 25 signed an executive action requiring the Commerce Department to assess whether America’s copper imports posed a national security risk.

“I am announcing a 50% TARIFF on Copper, effective August 1, 2025, after receiving a robust NATIONAL SECURITY ASSESSMENT,” Trump said on Truth Social Wednesday. “Copper is the second most used material by the Department of Defense! Why did our foolish (and SLEEPY!) “Leaders” decimate this important Industry? This 50% TARIFF will reverse the Biden Administration’s thoughtless behavior, and stupidity.”

A woman works in a factory making copper-clad aluminum enameled wire in Suqian city in east China’s Jiangsu province. FANG DONGXU/FCHNA/FeatureChina/AP

America imports about half of the copper it uses, according to the London Stock Exchange, and most of it comes from China, Chile, Japan and Congo. Copper is a key ingredient in electrical wiring necessary semiconductors and a host of other key goods, including batteries and defense equipment.

“America will, once again, build a DOMINANT Copper Industry,” Trump said. “THIS IS, AFTER ALL, OUR GOLDEN AGE!”

Copper have prices surged over the past day after Trump on Tuesday said tariffs on copper imports were imminent. Copper futures jumped 13.1% on Tuesday to settle at a record high $5.69 per pound. It was the biggest single-day increase on record going back to 1968. They fell a bit Wednesday but were up nearly 3% in late trading.

“I’ve been surprised it’s taken this long to get the copper tariff,” said Ed Mills, Washington policy analyst at Raymond James. “There are three buckets of tariffs: new revenue, national security, forced policy change. National security is the copper piece.”

But some analysts were skeptical that tariffs could quickly boost America’s copper mining industry and reduce its reliance on foreign countries for the key metal.

“The US remains structurally short on copper, importing over 50% of its needs—primarily from South America—with no clear path to improving that for years to come,” said Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank. “A tariff-induced price premium risks making copper—and by extension, US manufacturing and infrastructure—materially more expensive.”

Hansen called the 50% increase on copper tariffs “a massive tax on consumers of copper.”

Responding to Trump citing national security as a reason for the the copper tariff, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson told reporters on Thursday that China “opposed the generalization of the concept of national security.”

“We have always believed that there are no winners in a trade war, and the abuse of tariffs is not in the interests of any party,” Mao Ning, the spokesperson said.

While the US imported most of its refined copper from Chile, Canada and Peru last year, China is a major player in the copper trade. Most copper mines are in South American and African countries, but China dominates the refining of the metal globally, according to the United States Geological Survey. China has also been investing in copper mines in African countries, like the Democratic Republic of Congo, over the last few decades.

This story has been updated with additional context and developments.