The Trump administration launched a trade investigation against Brazil on Tuesday, just one week after blasting Brasília for its treatment of ally former President Jair Bolsonaro.
The trade investigation ostensibly regards unfair trade practices. It will examine concerns such as Brazilian tariffs, digital trade policies, illegal deforestation, intellectual property violations, ethanol market access, and “anti-corruption interference,” according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
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“At President [Donald] Trump’s direction, I am launching a Section 301 investigation into Brazil’s attacks on American social media companies as well as other unfair trading practices that harm American companies, workers, farmers, and technology innovators,” Trade Rep. Jamieson Greer said in a statement.
“USTR has detailed Brazil’s unfair trade practices that restrict the ability of U.S. exporters to access its market for decades in the annual National Trade Estimate (NTE) Report. After consulting with other government agencies, cleared advisers, and Congress, I have determined that Brazil’s tariff and non-tariff barriers merit a thorough investigation, and potentially, responsive action,” he added.
In accordance with the Trade Act of 1974, USTR must consult with the investigated foreign government, which the office says it has done. A hearing will be held in connection with the investigation on Sept. 3.
Though not mentioned in the notice, the investigation looks to many to be connected with the prosecution of Bolsonaro, who is accused of planning a coup and the murder of his political opponents. Trump recently denounced the investigation as a “witch hunt.”
“They’re treating President Bolsonaro very unfairly. He’s a good man,” Trump said on Friday.
“I shouldn’t like him because he was very tough in negotiation, but he was also very honest. And I know the honest ones, and I know the crooked ones,” the president added.
In February, Brazilian Prosecutor General Paulo Gonet charged Bolsonaro with attempting a coup to overthrow Brazil’s democratic order.
The indictment alleged that prosecutors obtained extensive evidence showing Bolsonaro approved a plot to assassinate his electoral rival, current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes. Lula was to be poisoned, while Moraes was to be shot by special forces, according to the indictment. Though ultimately abandoned, the plotters went so far as to begin tracking Moraes’s movements, according to the New York Times.
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Bolsonaro approached his indictment similarly to Trump, denouncing it as “the weaponization of the justice system” and comparing himself to the U.S. president.
The accusations are “nothing more than a desperate attempt to criminalize my political movement, silence millions of Brazilians, and rig the next election before a single vote is cast,” he continued, pointing out that he handed over power to Lula peacefully. “This is the same failed strategy that was used against President Trump.”