US tariffs: Trump takes aim at Brazil

The US President is threatening South America's largest economy with a 50 percent import tariff – even though there is no trade deficit with it. This time, Trump is using different arguments than in his previous tariff letters.
Donald Trump has continued his series of tariff letters, making Brazil the target of his most ferocious attack yet. The US president threatened Latin America's largest economy with a 50 percent import tariff, set to take effect on August 1. His tariff letter to Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva differs significantly from the more than twenty letters he has sent to the heads of government of other countries such as Japan, South Korea, and South Africa in recent days. Not only is the tariff now announced much higher than the tariffs set for the other countries—and also far higher than the 10 percent previously discussed for Brazil—Trump's justification for the tariffs is also quite different.
In previous letters, Trump cited unfair trade conditions as a key argument; this time, he focuses on politics. He begins his letter by expressing his displeasure with the ongoing criminal proceedings against former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro , a close political ally. Bolsonaro is currently facing trial before the Supreme Court along with other defendants on charges of plotting a coup to prevent a change of government following his defeat in the 2022 elections.
Trump has now written that Brazil's treatment of Bolsonaro is an "international disgrace" and a "witch hunt that should end immediately." Earlier this week, Trump had already sharply criticized the proceedings on his Truth Social platform, drawing a comparison to himself. "Leave Bolsonaro alone!" Trump wrote in capital letters. The former Brazilian president had done nothing wrong, and the lawsuit against him was nothing more than an attack on a political opponent. "I know a lot about this! It happened to me, ten times as bad." Trump has also often accused his own political opponents in the US of conducting "witch hunts" against him.
In his tariff letter, Trump accused Brazil of "underhand attacks on free elections." He also cited the Supreme Court's treatment of American internet companies as justification for the tariff threat. A few weeks ago, the judges ruled that online platforms can be held directly liable for illegal content posted by their users. This would apply to companies like Meta, Google, and X. Last year, one of the constitutional court judges had already engaged in a high-profile dispute with X. He blocked the platform after it failed to comply with a demand to block user accounts that he considered to have disseminated illegal content. The X blockade in Brazil lasted more than a month.
Trump said that because of the "continued attacks" on American digital companies, he was also instructing U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer to launch a so-called "Section 301" investigation into Brazil. Such investigations are intended to examine possible unfair practices by trading partners. These were not mentioned in the other customs letters.
Beyond the political reasons, Trump also described the trade relationship with Brazil in his letter as "very unfair" and spoke of a "trade deficit." However, the Americans do not have a deficit with Brazil, but rather a trade surplus. Last year, they exported goods worth almost $50 billion to Brazil, while imports totaled around $42 billion. Brazil exports petroleum products, steel, agricultural products, and aircraft to the USA, among other things. The share price of Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer fell significantly in after-hours trading following Trump's announcement on Wednesday. The Brazilian real lost value against the US dollar.
As in the case of the other letters, Trump also promised Brazil that he would make "adjustments" to the threatened tariffs if the country reduced trade barriers. There could be adjustments both upwards and downwards.
Brazil initially got off lightly when Trump announced tariffs on dozens of countries and regions in early April. The South American country was to be subject to the general "base tariff" of 10 percent, while significantly higher tariffs were announced for many other countries. However, the jump to 50 percent is now particularly significant. Many of the other tariffs threatened by Trump in his letters this week were roughly at the same level as those discussed in April.
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung