WASHINGTON, United States — US President Donald Trump announced a 50 percent tariff Wednesday targeting Brazil as he blasted the trial of the country’s ex-leader, and said a US “national security” levy on copper would begin in August.
In a letter addressed to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Trump criticized the treatment of his right-wing ally Jair Bolsonaro as an “international disgrace.”
Trump avoided his standard form letter with Brazil, specifically tying his tariffs to the trial of Bolsonaro, who is charged with trying to overturn his 2022 election loss.
Trump has described Bolsonaro as a friend and hosted the former Brazilian president at his Mar-a-Lago resort when both were in power in 2020.
“This Trial should not be taking place,” Trump wrote in the letter also posted on Truth Social. “It is a Witch Hunt that should end IMMEDIATELY!”
In response to Trump’s tariff letter, Lula warned of possible reciprocation, writing on X that “any unilateral tariff increases will be addressed in light of the Brazilian Law of Economic Reciprocity.”
Brazil earlier on Wednesday said it had summoned the US charge d’affaires over Trump’s previous criticism of the Bolsonaro trial.
It came after Trump recently lambasted the ongoing graft trial of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which he called a “travesty of justice,” and called for it to be halted, an unprecedented intervention in the Israeli justice system by a US president.
The White House later said that Trump was “simply emphasizing his empathy” for Netanyahu.
The 50 percent US tariff on Brazilian goods will take effect August 1, Trump said in his letter, mirroring a deadline that dozens of other economies face.
On that same date, a 50 percent tariff on US imports of copper — a key metal used in green energy and other technologies — will take effect, Trump announced Wednesday evening on social media.
He said the move followed a “robust NATIONAL SECURITY ASSESSMENT,” likely alluding to a Department of Commerce investigation into copper launched earlier this year.
“Copper is the second most used material by the Department of Defense!” Trump said.
Trump’s message to Lula was the latest in more than 20 such letters the US president has released since Monday, after repeatedly threatening to simply decide a rate for countries as negotiations continue over his elevated “reciprocal” tariffs.
Brazil had not been among those threatened previously with duties above a 10% baseline, and the United States runs a goods trade surplus with Brazil.
On Wednesday, Trump also addressed letters to leaders of the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Brunei, Algeria, Libya, Iraq and Moldova, spelling out duties ranging from 20% to 30% that would also take effect on August 1.
Similar to a first batch of documents published Monday, the levels were not too far from those originally threatened in April, although some partners received notably lower rates this time.
While Trump in April imposed a 10% levy on almost all trading partners, he unveiled — and then withheld — higher rates for dozens of economies.
The deadline for those steeper levels to take effect was meant to be Wednesday, before Trump postponed it further to August 1.
Countries that faced the threats of elevated duties began receiving letters spelling out US tariff rates on their products.
In the messages, Trump justified his tariffs as a response to trade ties that he says are “far from Reciprocal.”
The letters urged countries to manufacture products in the United States to avoid duties, while threatening further escalation if leaders retaliated.
Other countries that have received Trump’s letters include key US allies Japan and South Korea, as well as Indonesia, Bangladesh and Thailand.
Analysts have noted that Asian countries have been a key target so far.
But all eyes are on the state of negotiations with major partners who have yet to receive such letters, including the European Union.
The Trump administration is under pressure to unveil more trade pacts. So far, Washington has only reached agreements with Britain and Vietnam, alongside a deal to temporarily lower tit-for-tat levies with China.
Trump on Tuesday said his government was “probably two days off” from sending the EU a letter with an updated tariff rate.
An EU spokesman said Wednesday the bloc wants to strike a deal with the United States “in the coming days,” and has shown readiness to reach an agreement in principle.
Apart from tariffs targeting goods from different countries, Trump has rolled out sector-specific duties on steel, aluminum and autos since returning to the White House in January.