President Trump announced today that many goods imported into the U.S. from Brazil would immediately face a 50 percent tax. It is the highest tariff currently in place that the president has imposed this year, and it arrived two days ahead of schedule.
The Trump administration also announced new sanctions against a Brazilian Supreme Court justice overseeing the criminal case against Jair Bolsonaro, the former president who was accused of orchestrating an attempted coup after losing the 2022 elections. Trump has described the prosecution of Bolsonaro as a “witch hunt.”
The moves were a sharp escalation of the feud between Trump and Latin America’s largest nation, as well as an apparent rebuke of Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. In an interview with The Times before the tariffs were imposed, Lula accused Trump of trying to push Brazil around and ignoring offers to negotiate.
“We are treating this with the utmost seriousness,” Lula said. “But seriousness does not require subservience.” Read excerpts from the interview and watch my colleague Jack Nicas explain Brazil’s difficult position.
In other trade news:
Trump said he would impose a 25 percent levy on imports from India starting Friday, as well as a penalty tariff for purchases of Russian oil.
Trump ended the “de minimis exemption” that allowed goods worth under $800 to enter the country without paying duty. The exemption had been eliminated for Chinese goods in May.