President Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order raising tariffs on imports from Brazil to 50 percent, escalating his fight with the largest South American economy.
The order Trump signed declares a national emergency under a 1977 law he has used to justify his imposition of sweeping tariffs since taking office in January. It increases the existing 10 percent tariff on Brazil to 50 percent, citing Brazil’s “unusual and extraordinary policies and actions harming U.S. companies, the free speech rights of U.S. persons, U.S. foreign policy, and the U.S. economy.”
Trump earlier this month announced plans to impose a 50 percent tariff on Brazil, specifically citing the prosecution of former President Jair Bolsonaro over an alleged plot to remain in power after losing an election.
Brazil is the rare country that has faced steep tariffs despite the United States having a trade surplus with it, underscoring the degree to which Trump’s tariffs on Brazil are motivated by other political matters.
Trump and Bolsonaro have expressed mutual admiration in the past, and Bolsonaro’s efforts to remain in power carried echoes of Trump’s refusal to concede after losing the 2020 election.
Trump’s order raising tariffs on Brazil goes into effect seven days after its signing, which would be Aug. 6. Trump had otherwise set an Aug. 1 date for countries to face higher tariff rates if they have not negotiated separate trade deals.
Bolsonaro and dozens of allies were charged in February in connection with a plot to remain in power after Brazil’s 2022 election. Bolsonaro, who has claimed he is being politically targeted, testified in the trial last month.
Earlier Wednesday, the Treasury Department sanctioned Brazilian Supreme Federal Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, alleging he has issued orders to “secretly censor his political critics.”
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has pushed back on Trump’s threats and argued Brazil will stand up for its sovereignty.
“There’s no reason to be afraid,” da Silva told The New York Times. “I am worried, obviously, because we have economic interests, political interests, technological interests. But at no point will Brazil negotiate as if it were a small country up against a big country. Brazil will negotiate as a sovereign country.”
—Updated at 3:46 p.m. EDT