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 Pictures
President Donald Trump mentioned Wednesday the U.S. will slap a 50% tariff on Brazil’s imports beginning Aug. 1, partly in retaliation for the continuing prosecution of the nation’s former president, Jair Bolsonaro.
Trump mentioned in a letter that the brand new tariff — a large leap from the ten% price the U.S. imposed on 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 practically two dozen others that Trump has not too long ago 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 remaining, by imposing a brand new U.S. import tax price explicitly as a punishment for a rustic partaking in inner political and authorized affairs that Trump dislikes.
The worth of Brazil’s forex, the actual, fell greater than 2% in opposition to the U.S. greenback following Trump’s announcement.
Trump has beforehand sounded off on Brazil over its remedy of Bolsonaro, a vocal ally of the U.S. president who’s standing trial over his function in an alleged coup to overturn his 2022 reelection loss.
Trump known 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 legal investigations that he confronted earlier than profitable the 2024 U.S. presidential election.
Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro talks to the media, after the Supreme Courtroom voted that he ought to stand trial for allegedly trying a coup after his 2022 electoral defeat, in Brasilia, Brazil, March 26, 2025.
Adriano Machado | Reuters
He additionally railed in opposition to “Brazil’s insidious assaults on Free Elections, and the basic Free Speech Rights of People,” apparently referring to the Brazilian Supreme Courtroom‘s current ruling that would maintain social media platforms liable for his or her customers’ content material.
Trump additionally claimed that Brazil’s commerce insurance policies have prompted “unsustainable Commerce Deficits in opposition to the USA,” which threaten the U.S. economic system and nationwide safety.
However the U.S. has a items commerce surplus with Brazil, which totaled $7.4 billion in 2024, in keeping with 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 mentioned that probe is predicated on “Brazil’s continued assaults on the Digital Commerce actions of American Corporations.”
“Please perceive that the 50% quantity is much lower than what is required to have the Stage Enjoying Discipline we will need to have along 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, comparable to metal, aluminum and vehicles.
All of them additionally ship a preemptive warning that if the nations resolve to boost their very own import taxes on American items “for any purpose,” then the U.S. will enhance its tariff price by an equal quantity.
They usually all notice that the U.S. “will, maybe, contemplate an adjustment” if the nations do away with their tariff and non-tariff commerce obstacles.
“These Tariffs could also be modified, upward or downward, relying on our relationship along with your Nation,” Trump says in the entire letters. “You’ll by no means be disenchanted 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, comparable to 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.”
