Trump Threatens Brazil With 50 Percent Tariff Citing Trial Of erstwhile President

Authored by Jacob Burg via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Among a batch of letters that President Donald Trump sent out to several U.S. trading partners on July 9 was one issued to Brazil threatening to impose a 50 percent tariff on its exports to the United States.

A ship with the logo of BYD, a Chinese company, delivers vehicles at the Port of Itajaí in Santa Catarina, Brazil, on May 28, 2025. Anderson Cohelo/Reuters

Trump posted on Truth Social on Wednesday a copy of his letter sent to Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, in which he accused the nation of becoming an “international disgrace” due to the ongoing trial of its former president, Jair Bolsonaro, a Trump ally.

Sometimes referred to as the “Trump of the Tropics,” Bolsonaro is currently on trial for charges stemming from an alleged plot to overturn Brazil’s 2022 election results. Prosecutors allege that Bolsonaro and several associates were attempting a coup d’état, including an alleged plan to assassinate da Silva.

Bolsonaro has denied wrongdoing and any involvement in the alleged coup plot.

In his letter, Trump called Bolsonaro’s trial a “witch hunt” and said it should end immediately.

“Due in part to Brazil’s insidious attacks on Free Elections, and the fundamental Free Speech Rights of Americans … starting on August 1, 2025, we will charge Brazil a Tariff of 50% on any and all Brazilian products sent into the United States,” Trump wrote.

He also cited Brazil’s nontariff trade barriers in his decision to impose the new tariff rate.

“There will be no Tariff if Brazil, or companies within your Country, decide to build or manufacture product within the United States and, in fact, we will do everything possible to get approvals quickly, professionally, and routinely—in other words, in a matter of weeks,” Trump added.

Lula responded to Trump’s letter, saying in a statement that “any unilateral tariff increases will be addressed in accordance with Brazil’s Economic Reciprocity Law.”

The law allows trade, investment, and intellectual property agreements to be suspended for countries that harm Brazil’s competitiveness.

He defended the country’s legal system and said the United States has had a trade surplus of $410 billion with Brazil over the past 15 years.

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

While the other 21 countries that Trump sent letters to this week were set to return to April’s reciprocal tariff levels, Brazil was not, as it instead received only the 10 percent baseline tariff that was imposed on all U.S. trading partners.

Brazil also does not have a trade deficit with the United States like the other 21 nations, as America ran a $7.4 billion trade surplus with Brazil in 2024. That means the United States exports more products to Brazil than it imports.

However, Brazil, along with the other BRICS nations—Russia, India, China, and South Africa—may see an additional 10 percent tariff after Trump threatened BRICS members with higher levies on Tuesday, accusing the group of trying to replace the U.S. dollar as the leading currency for international trade.

The other nations that received tariff letters on Wednesday are Iraq, Libya, Algeria, Brunei, Moldova, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines. Some will see rates as high as 30 percent on their imports into the United States, with the new rates set to go into effect Aug. 1, absent trade negotiations with the Trump administration.

Trump had initially set 12:01 a.m. ET on Wednesday as the deadline for U.S. trading partners to cut deals with his administration or see tariffs as high as those imposed in early April.

Prior to the countries that received tariff letters on Wednesday, Trump had sent similar two-page letters on Monday to Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Kazakhstan, South Africa, Laos, Burma (also known as Myanmar), Bosnia and Herzegovina, Tunisia, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Serbia, Cambodia, and Thailand.

South Africa was included in the BRICS announcement.

More letters could be issued soon, Trump said in an earlier Truth Social post.

Lily Zhou contributed to this report.