U.S. President Donald Trump solutions questions throughout a multilateral lunch with African leaders within the State Eating Room of the White Home July 9, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Win McNamee | Getty Photographs
President Donald Trump stated Wednesday the U.S. will impose a 50% tariff on imports from Brazil beginning Aug. 1, partly in retaliation for the continued prosecution of the nation’s former president, Jair Bolsonaro.
Trump stated in a letter that the brand new tariff — a large soar from the 10% fee the U.S. imposed on imports from Brazil in early April — can be a response to the “very unfair commerce relationship” between the 2 nations.
The letter to Brazil’s present president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, adopted almost two dozen others that Trump has just lately despatched to different world leaders, dictating steep new tariff charges on the products they promote to the U.S.
However the letter to Lula goes additional than the remainder, by imposing a brand new U.S. import tax fee explicitly as a punishment for a rustic partaking in inside political and authorized affairs that Trump dislikes.
The worth of Brazil’s forex, the actual, fell greater than 2% towards the U.S. greenback following Trump’s announcement.
Trump has beforehand sounded off on Brazil over its therapy of Bolsonaro, a vocal ally of the U.S. president who’s standing trial over his position in an alleged coup to overturn his 2022 reelection loss.
Trump referred to as the scenario “a world shame” within the letter, which he shared publicly in a Fact Social submit. He slammed the Bolsonaro trial as a “Witch Hunt,” echoing the language he used to explain the a number of prison investigations that he confronted earlier than successful the 2024 U.S. presidential election.
Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro talks to the media, after the Supreme Court docket voted that he ought to stand trial for allegedly making an attempt a coup after his 2022 electoral defeat, in Brasilia, Brazil, March 26, 2025.
Adriano Machado | Reuters
He additionally railed towards “Brazil’s insidious assaults on Free Elections, and the basic Free Speech Rights of People,” apparently referring to the Brazilian Supreme Court docket‘s latest ruling that might maintain social media platforms liable for his or her customers’ content material.
Trump additionally claimed that Brazil’s commerce insurance policies have brought on “unsustainable Commerce Deficits towards america,” which threaten the U.S. financial system and nationwide safety.
However the U.S. has a items commerce surplus with Brazil, which totaled $7.4 billion in 2024, in response to the Workplace of the U.S. Commerce Consultant.
The U.S. can be launching an investigation into potential unfair commerce practices by Brazil, Trump wrote within the letter.
He stated that probe is predicated on “Brazil’s continued assaults on the Digital Commerce actions of American Corporations.”
“Please perceive that the 50% quantity is way lower than what is required to have the Degree Enjoying Discipline we will need to have together with your Nation,” Trump wrote. “And it’s essential to have this to rectify the grave injustices of the present regime.”
Parts of the letter to Lula match the verbiage of the 21 tariff letters that Trump has despatched to different world leaders since Monday.
All of these letters specify that the brand new blanket tariff charges are separate from different “sectoral” duties on imports of particular merchandise, resembling metal, aluminum and automobiles.
All of them additionally ship a preemptive warning that if the nations determine to boost their very own import taxes on American items “for any cause,” then the U.S. will improve its tariff fee by an equal quantity.
And so they all notice that the U.S. “will, maybe, think about an adjustment” if the nations do away with their tariff and non-tariff commerce boundaries.
“These Tariffs could also be modified, upward or downward, relying on our relationship together with your Nation,” Trump says in all the letters. “You’ll by no means be upset with The USA of America.”
The recipients are a mix of main U.S. commerce companions, together with Japan and South Korea, and smaller economies, resembling Moldova and Brunei.
The tariff charges for these 21 nations vary from 20% to 40%. They’re all set to kick in on Aug. 1, and Trump has insisted that “no extensions might be granted.”
