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Trump signs order to justify 50% tariffs
on Brazil
[July 31, 2025]
By JOSH BOAK
WASHINGTON
(AP) — President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday to
impose his threatened 50% tariffs on Brazil, setting a legal rationale
that Brazil’s policies and criminal prosecution of former President Jair
Bolsonaro constitute an economic emergency under a 1977 law.
Trump had
threatened the tariffs July 9 in a letter to President Luiz Inacio Lula
da Silva. But the legal basis of that threat was an earlier executive
order premised on trade imbalances being a threat to the U.S. economy.
But America ran a $6.8 billion trade surplus last year with Brazil,
according to the U.S. Census Bureau. |
Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro, right, stands with President Donald
Trump during a dinner at Mar-a-Lago, Palm Beach, Fla., March 7, 2020.
Bolsonaro's son, Eduardo is pictured in background on right. (Alan
Santos/Brazil's Presidential Press Office via AP File) |
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A
statement by the White House said Brazil’s judiciary had tried
to coerce social media companies and block their users, though
it did not name the companies involved, X and Rumble.
Trump appears to identify with Bolsonaro, who attempted to
overturn the results of his 2022 loss to Lula. Similarly, Trump
was indicted in 2023 for his efforts to overturn the results of
the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
Lula left an event about animal rights early on Wednesday after
Trump's move, saying he needed to defend “the sovereignty of the
Brazilian people in light of the measures announced by the
President of the United States.”
The order would apply an additional 40% tariff on the baseline
10% tariff already being levied by Trump. But not all goods
imported from Brazil would face the 40% tariff: Civil aircraft
and parts, aluminum, tin, wood pulp, energy products and
fertilizers are among the products being excluded.
The order said the tariffs would go into effect seven days after
its signing on Wednesday.
Also Wednesday, Trump's Treasury Department announced sanctions
on Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes over
alleged suppression of freedom of expression and Bolsonaro's
ongoing trial.
De Moraes oversees the criminal case against Bolsonaro, who is
accused of masterminding a plot to stay in power despite his
2022 defeat.
On July 18, the State Department announced visa restrictions on
Brazilian judicial officials, including de Moraes.
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