President Trump broke from the format of his tariff letters to inform the President of Brazil that he plans to impose a 50% tariff on “any and all products sent from Brazil to the United States” starting August 1st.
Trump posted the letter on social media on Wednesday afternoon (9), his 22nd letter of this type this week. However, this letter markedly departed from the others that Trump published. All the other letters were similar, informing countries that the new tariffs aimed to correct trade imbalances with the US.
The letter to Brazil, however, dealt with Brazilian politics. Trump wrote that the tariffs on Brazil are necessary in part “to correct the grave injustices of the current regime,” and in particular what Trump called a “Witch Hunt” against former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
Bolsonaro is currently on trial for allegations that he and allies planned a coup in an attempt to stay in power after the far-right president lost the reelection bid against left-wing Lula da Silva in 2022.
Trump has long praised Bolsonaro, and continued to do so in his letter.
Trump wrote that he “met and dealt with former President Jair Bolsonaro, and respected him greatly,” and said that the way the former leader has been treated in Brazil “is an international disgrace.”
Wednesday’s tariff letter follows an announcement Trump made earlier this week that BRICS alliance members, including Brazil, would be subject to an additional 10% tariff. It was not clear if this rate would be applied on top of the 50% rate Trump is proposing.
Brazil hosted a BRICS countries summit earlier this week, including the original BRICS members – Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa – plus new members, including Egypt and Indonesia.
At that summit, in response to Trump’s BRICS tariff threat, Lula da Silva fired back at Trump.
“We don’t want an emperor, we are sovereign countries,” Lula said in a speech. “It is not right for a president of a country the size of the United States to threaten the world online.”
The tariff letters are the result of months of observation and waiting while Trump decided what to do with the global tariffs he announced on April 2. On that day, he announced tariffs on almost all countries, with rates ranging from 10 to 50%.
After panic among investors and stock market drops, Trump backed down on his tariffs, implementing what he called a 90-day “pause” until July 9, during which all those tariffs would be kept at 10%.
Trump had said he would make tariff deals with countries by July 9, but so far only two have been announced. Trump this week extended the deadline to August 1. Instead of announcing additional deals, he started posting these letters.
The proposed 50% tariff represents a huge jump from the 10% tariff Trump announced for Brazil on April 2.
Source: npr.org by Danielle Kurtzleben