Brazil: Trump slaps 50% tariffs, backs Bolsonaro over Lula

US President Donald Trump said on July 9th that the US would impose a 50% tariff on all imports from Brazil, defending indicted former President of Brazil Bolsonaro over incumbent Lula, Reuters reports. 

The President of Brazil, Luiz Inacio de Silva, snapped back on the same day, saying new tariffs would be matched with reciprocal measures. 

In a letter, Trump framed the tariffs as a response to Brazil’s handling of the far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is on trial for allegedly disseminating misinformation, abuse of power and plotting a coup to prevent Lula from taking office in 2023. The measures were imposed due “in part to Brazil’s insidious attacks on Free Elections, and the fundamental Free Speech Rights of Americans,” the letter said.  Trump also criticised Brazil’s Supreme Court for alleged censorship of social media firms and unfair trade practices, adding that he will direct the US Trade Representative to initiate a probe into this. 

In the stock market, companies such as aircraft manufacturer Embraer were hit, and the Brazilian Real slid further after the announcement, falling more than 2% against the US Dollar. 

US food prices could be impacted by these measures as Brazil sells sugar, beef, ethanol and other agricultural products to the US. A third of the coffee consumed in the US comes from Brazil, the world’s largest coffee grower. Meanwhile, more than half of the orange juice sold in the US comes from Brazil, which is by far the largest orange juice producer. 

In a lengthy social media response to Trump’s statement after an emergency cabinet meeting, Lula said his counterpart’s accusations of unfair trade to the US were false, emphasising that the US runs a trade surplus against Brazil. He stated that his government is guided by sovereignty, respect and defending the interests of the people of Brazil. 

The tariffs are a part of a larger list of measures in the past week on others, such as Mexico, the EU, Japan, South Korea and Canada. In the letter, the flat 50% tariff on Brazil will start on August 1st and will be separate from all sectoral tariffs, such as another 50% tariff on copper. 

The recent BRICS summit on July 6-7th in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, saw Trump take to social media and threaten to impose additional 10% tariffs on BRICS nations for being “anti-American.”

Hostilities between the US and Brazil have intensified following Trump’s statement defending Bolsonaro, with the Brazilian foreign ministry summoning the US Embassy’s chargé d’affaires due to this, as the embassy confirmed. Trump told reporters at the White House that Brazil “has not been good to us, not good at all” and tariff rates would be based on “very, very substantial facts”. 

Trump’s support for Bolsonaro is seen as unsurprising given support for other right-wing leaders who have faced legal battles, such as France’s Marine-Le Pen, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Cases against those leaders have been called “witch hunts” by Trump, echoing the term for Bolsonaro as another victim such as himself. 

The US Embassy in Brasilia later issued a statement matching these remarks. “The political persecution of Jair Bolsonaro, his family and his supporters is shameful and disrespectful of Brazil’s democratic traditions,” it said.

Bolsonaro responded to support for him in a post, implicitly saying that Trump “is persecuted because he remains alive in the public consciousness.” 

The Supreme Court of Brazil has been persistently attacked by Bolsonaro’s allies for ordering and imposing penalties on social media websites to remove content from their movement’s leaders. 

Lula dismissed Trump’s accusations in his response post and defended the independence and impartiality of Brazil’s courts in prosecuting the former far-right president. He defended his country’s Supreme Court and its social media rulings saying that “freedom of expression must not be confused with aggression or violent practice.”

Reuters, Maghrebi.org