Trump threatens Brazil with 50% tariff over Bolsonaro trial
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Trump imposes 50% tariffs on Brazil after public spat with Lula
U.S. President Donald Trump says he will impose a 50% tariff on all imports from Brazil. Trump linked the tariffs to Brazil’s treatment of former President Jair Bolsonaro who is on trial over charges of plotting a coup. On Monday, Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva attacked Trump after he called him an unwanted “emperor” The U.S is Brazil’s second largest trading partner after China and the tariffs are a major increase on the 10% that were announced in April. He added that the tariff rates would be based on “very, very substantial facts” and past history, adding that Brazil “has not been good to us, not good at all,” adding that the tariffs would start on Aug. 1. The American Embassy in Brasilia issued a statement on Wednesday to the local press echoing his remarks.
WASHINGTON/BRASILIA, July 9 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the U.S. would impose a 50% tariff on all imports from Brazil after a public spat this week with his Brazilian counterpart who called him an unwanted “emperor.”
In a letter, Trump linked the tariffs to Brazil’s treatment of former President Jair Bolsonaro who is on trial over charges of plotting a coup.
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The levies were imposed due “in part to Brazil’s insidious attacks on Free Elections, and the fundamental Free Speech Rights of Americans,” the letter said.
Brazil’s real currency added to earlier losses to fall over 2% against the dollar after the announcement.
The U.S. is Brazil’s second largest trading partner after China and the tariffs are a major increase on the 10% that were announced in April.
Trump’s letter said the 50% tariff will start Aug. 1 and be separate from all sectoral tariffs. It added that Trump directed U.S. Trade Representative James Greer to initiate a probe into what he called unfair trade practices by Brazil, particularly on U.S. companies’ digital trade.
On Monday, Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva attacked Trump after the U.S. leader had threatened imposing an additional 10% tariff on the BRICS group of developing nations which he called “anti-American.”
“The world has changed. We don’t want an emperor ,” Lula told reporters when asked about the possible BRICS tariff.
“We are sovereign nations,” Lula added. “If he thinks he can impose tariffs, other countries have the right to impose tariffs too.”
BOLSONARO ‘WITCH HUNT’
Tensions between the United States and Brazil had already been intensifying on Wednesday after Brazil’s foreign ministry summoned the U.S. Embassy’s chargé d’affaires over a statement defending Bolsonaro.
Around the same time, Trump , speaking to reporters at an event with West African leaders at the White House, said Brazil “has not been good to us, not good at all,” adding that the tariff rates would be based on “very, very substantial facts” and past history.
The U.S. Embassy in Brasilia confirmed on Wednesday that Gabriel Escobar, its chargé d’affaires, had a meeting with officials from Brazil’s foreign ministry, though it declined to share details about the conversation. The ministry didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Trump’s support for Bolsonaro echoed his support for other global right-wing leaders who have faced domestic legal cases like French far-right leader Marine Le Pen and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Trump has called cases against those leaders a “witch hunt,” a term he commonly used for cases that he faced himself in the U.S. after the end of his first time in office.
Trump said in a social media post on Monday that Bolsonaro was the victim of a “witch hunt.” The American Embassy in Brasilia issued a statement on Wednesday to the local press echoing his remarks.
“The political persecution of Jair Bolsonaro, his family and his supporters is shameful and disrespectful of Brazil’s democratic traditions,” the U.S. Embassy’s press office said in a statement in Portuguese.
Reporting by Kanishka Singh, Ismail Shakil and Ricardo Brito
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Trump Threatens 50% Brazil Tariff, Citing Bolsonaro Trial
The 50% tariff is the highest level announced so far in Trump’s flurry of letters to world leaders this week. Trump pushed back the deadline to impose his so-called reciprocal tariffs to Aug. 1. They had previously been
The U.S. will charge a 50% tariff on Brazilian goods starting on Aug. 1, President Trump announced in a letter to the Latin American country’s government on Wednesday, citing legal action against its former President Jair Bolsonaro and U.S. tech firms as justification for the levies.
The 50% tariff is the highest level announced so far in Trump’s flurry of letters to world leaders this week, which were sent after he pushed back the deadline to impose his so-called reciprocal tariffs to Aug. 1. They had previously been set to take effect on Wednesday, after being paused since April.
Trump imposes 50% tariff on Brazil, criticises Bolsonaro trial
The 50% US tariff on Brazilian goods would take effect August 1. It is the latest in more than 20 such letters the US President has released since Monday. He has also addressed letters to leaders of the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Brunei, Algeria, Libya, Iraq and Moldova, spelling out duties ranging from 20% to 30%. Most of the tariff levels are similar to those originally threatened in April, although some countries have received notably lower rates this time. But all eyes are on the state of negotiations with major partners who have yet to receive such letters, including the European Union. The EU spokesman said today that the bloc wanted to strike a deal with the US ‘in the coming days’
While Trump has started to issue letters to many trading partners this week, he has focused on those with which the US runs significant deficits.
Brazil had not been among those threatened previously with higher tariffs. The US runs a goods trade surplus with Brazil.
Escalation threats
Trump’s message to Lula was the latest in more than 20 such letters the US President has released since Monday, setting out tariff rates as Washington tries to bring about more trade deals.
He has also addressed letters to leaders of the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Brunei, Algeria, Libya, Iraq and Moldova, spelling out duties ranging from 20% to 30%, to take effect on August 1.
Most of the tariff levels are similar to those originally threatened in April, although some countries have received notably lower rates this time.
In April, Trump imposed a 10% levy on almost all trading partners. However, he also unveiled – and then withheld – higher rates for dozens of economies.
The deadline for those steeper levels to take effect was meant to be Wednesday, before Trump postponed it further to August 1.
In messages spelling out the higher tariffs, Trump justified them as a response to trade ties that he said were “far from reciprocal”.
The letters urged countries to manufacture products in the US to avoid duties, while threatening further escalation if leaders retaliated.
Other countries that have received Trump’s letters include key US allies Japan and South Korea, as well as Indonesia, Bangladesh and Thailand.
EU deal in ‘coming days’?
Analysts have noted that Asian countries have been a key target so far.
But all eyes are on the state of negotiations with major partners who have yet to receive such letters, including the European Union.
The Trump administration is under pressure to unveil more trade pacts. So far, Washington has reached agreements only with Britain and Vietnam, alongside a deal to temporarily lower tit-for-tat levies with China.
Earlier this week, Trump said his Government was “probably two days off” from sending the EU a letter with an updated tariff rate.
An EU spokesman said today that the bloc wanted to strike a deal with the US “in the coming days”, and had shown readiness to reach an agreement in principle.
Apart from tariffs targeting goods from different countries, Trump has rolled out sector-specific duties on steel, aluminium and cars since returning to the White House in January.
On Tuesday, he said levies were incoming on copper and pharmaceuticals.
The planned rate for copper was 50%, he added, while pharmaceutical products faced a levy as high as 200%. However, manufacturers would be given time to relocate their operations to the US.
– Agence France-Presse
Trump unveils 50% tariff on Brazil goods, citing ‘witch hunt’ trial against Bolsonaro
US President Donald Trump threatens 50% tariffs on Brazil’s goods starting August 1. The US ran a $6.8 billion trade surplus with Brazil last year, according to the Census Bureau. Trump also sent letters Wednesday to the leaders of seven other nations. None of them is a major industrial rival to the United States. The Brazilian real dove more than 2% against the US dollar on Wednesday, after Trump threatened tariffs of 50% on Brazil’s goods. “I think he has been misinformed,” Brazil’s vice president, Geraldo Alckmin, said of the US president. “President Lula was jailed for almost two years. No one questioned the judiciary. This is a matter for our judiciary branch,” he said of Brazil’s former president, Jair Bolsonaro.
President Donald Trump singled out Brazil for import taxes of 50% on Wednesday, July 9, for its treatment of its former president, Jair Bolsonaro, showing that personal grudges rather than simple economics are a driving force in the US leader’s use of tariffs.
Trump avoided his standard form letter with Brazil, specifically tying his tariffs to the trial of Bolsonaro, who is charged with trying to overturn his 2022 election loss. Trump has described Bolsonaro as a friend and hosted the former Brazilian president at his Mar-a-Lago resort when both were in power in 2020.
In a letter addressed to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Trump criticized the treatment of the former Brazilian president as an “international disgrace,” adding that the trial “should not be taking place.”
Read more Subscribers only On trial for 2023 coup attempt, Brazil’s Bolsonaro admits he tried to hold on to power
There is a sense of kinship as Trump was indicted in 2023 for his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 US presidential election.
Bolsonaro testified before the country’s Supreme Court in June over the alleged plot to remain in power after his 2022 election loss. Judges will hear from 26 other defendants in coming months. A decision could come as early as September, legal analysts say. Bolsonaro has already been ruled ineligible until 2030 by the country’s electoral authorities.
Brazil’s vice president, Geraldo Alckmin, said he sees “no reason” for the US to hike tariffs on the South American nation. “I think he has been misinformed,” he said. “President Lula was jailed for almost two years. No one questioned the judiciary. No one questioned what the country had done. This is a matter for our judiciary branch.”
Read more Subscribers only Global economy braces for Trump’s trade war and its consequences
A dramatic increase
Trump also objected to Brazil’s Supreme Court fining of social media companies such as X, saying the temporary blocking last year amounted to “SECRET and UNLAWFUL Censorship Orders.” Trump said he is launching an investigation as a result under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, which applies to companies with trade practices that are deemed unfair to US companies.
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Unmentioned in the letter was that X is owned by Elon Musk, Trump’s multibillionaire backer in the 2024 election whose time leading Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency recently ended and led to a public feud over the US president’s deficit-increasing budget plan. Trump also owns a social media company, Truth Social.
The Brazilian real dove more than 2% against the US dollar on Wednesday, after Trump threatened tariffs of 50% on Brazil’s goods.
Read more Subscribers only Lula’s thwarted ambitions to place Brazil at the center of the world
The tariffs starting August 1 would be a dramatic increase from the 10% rate that Trump levied on Brazil as part of his April 2 “Liberation Day” announcement. In addition to oil, Brazil sells orange juice, coffee, iron and steel to the US, among other products. The US ran a $6.8 billion trade surplus with Brazil last year, according to the Census Bureau.
Trump also sent letters Wednesday to the leaders of seven other nations. None of them − the Philippines, Brunei, Moldova, Algeria, Libya, Iraq and Sri Lanka − is a major industrial rival to the United States.
Trump threatens Brazil with 50% tariff and demands end to Bolsonaro ‘witch hunt’
Trump threatens Brazil with 50% tariff and demands end to Bolsonaro ‘witch hunt’ Trump accuses Brazil of “attacks” on US tech companies. He also accused the country of conducting a “witch hunt” against former far-right president. The US enjoyed a trade surplus with Brazil last year, selling more goods in the country than it purchased from it. Trump has posted 22 letters to countries around the world this week, including trade partners such as Japan, South Korea and Sri Lanka, outlining new tariffs on their goods he says will come into force on 1 August. Trump said he would order the US Trade Representative to launch a so-called 301 investigation into Brazil’s digital trade practices. This would mark a turn to more established legal process that US has used to impose tariffs in the past.
Mr Trump holds a signed executive order to announce new tariffs in the Rose Garden of the White House, Wednesday, April 2, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci). Picture: Alamy
By Alice Brooker
US President Donald Trump has stirred further tensions with Brazil after threatening a plan to impose a 50% tax on goods made in the South American country.
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Mr Trump announced the plan in his latest tariff letter, shared on social media, accusing Brazil of “attacks” on US tech companies.
He also accused the country of conducting a “witch hunt” against former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, who is facing prosecution over his role trying to overturn the 2022 election.
Trump had already sparred with Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva over Bolsonaro’s trial earlier this week.
At the time, President Lula said Brazil would not accept “interference” from anyone and added: “No one is above the law.”
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Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on 8 July 2025. Photo: Mateus Bonomi/AGIF. Picture: Alamy
Unlike many other countries, the US enjoyed a trade surplus with Brazil last year, selling more goods in the country than it purchased from it.
In the letter, Trump called the 50% rate “necessary … to rectify the grave injustices of the current regime”.
Trump has posted 22 letters to countries around the world this week, including trade partners such as Japan, South Korea and Sri Lanka, outlining new tariffs on their goods he says will come into force on 1 August.
The moves have largely served to revive plans he had put forward in April but that were put on hold after financial markets recoiled at the measures.
But the message to Brazil was a far more targeted missive and threatened a significant increase from the 10% rate the White House had previously announced.
Former president Jair Bolsonaro (Liberal Party) arrives for a rally in his support on Paulista in June 2025. Picture: Alamy
Mr Trump said he would order the US Trade Representative to launch a so-called 301 investigation into Brazil’s digital trade practices.
This would mark a turn to more established legal process that US has used to impose tariffs in the past, toughening the threat.
In his first term, Trump took a similar step over the country’s consideration of a tax targeting tech firms.
Trump, in the letter, accused the Brazilian government of “insidious attacks on Free Elections, and the fundamental Free Speech Rights of Americans” including the censorship of “US Social Media platforms”.
Trump’s social media company, Trump Media, is among the US tech companies fighting Brazilian court rulings over orders suspending social media accounts.
The country had also temporarily banned Elon Musk’s X, formerly known as Twitter, after the platform refused to ban accounts that were deemed by Brazil to be spreading misinformation about the 2022 Brazilian Presidential Election.
Trump and Bolsonaro enjoyed a friendly relationship when their presidencies overlapped, with the pair meeting in 2019 at the White House during Trump’s first term.
Last month, Brazil’s Supreme Court ruled that social media companies can be held responsible for content posted on their platforms.
In the letter, Trump also spoke favourably of former Brazilian president Bolsonaro, saying he “respected him greatly”. He added that the ongoing trial against him is “an international disgrace”.