Brazil vows to match US tariffs after Trump threatens 50% levy

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has said he is ready to match any tariffs imposed on Brazil by the United States.

Lula was responding to Wednesday’s threat by his US counterpart, Donald Trump, to impose a 50% import tax on Brazilian goods from 1 August.

In a letter, Trump cited Brazil’s treatment of former President Jair Bolsonaro as a trigger for tariff-hike.

Bolsonaro is currently on trial for allegedly attempting to stage a coup against Lula after being defeated by him in the 2022 election.

Trump referred to Bolsonaro as “a highly respected leader throughout the world”. “This Trial should not be taking place,” he wrote, calling on Brazil to immediately end the “witch hunt” against the former president.

Trump’s support for Bolsonaro does not come as a surprise as the two men have long been considered allies.

How Trump’s allies stoked Brazil Congress attack

The US president had already slammed Brazil for its treatment of Bolsonaro on Monday, comparing it to the legal cases he himself had faced in US courts.

The 50% tariff threat was met with a robust and lengthy response by President Lula.

In a post on X, he stressed that Brazil was “a sovereign country with independent institutions and will not accept any tutelage”.

The Brazilian leader also announced that “any unilateral tariff increases” would be met with reciprocal tariffs imposed on US goods.

The US is Brazil’s second-largest trade partner after China, so the hike from a tariff rate of 10% to an eye-watering 50% – if it comes into force – would hit the South American nation hard.

But Lula also made a point of challenging Trump’s assertion that the US had a trade deficit with Brazil, calling it “inaccurate”.

Lula’s rebuttal is backed up by US government data, which suggests the US had a goods trade surplus with Brazil of $7.4bn (£5.4bn) in 2024.

Brazil is the US’s 15th largest trading partner and among its main imports from the US are mineral fuels, aircraft and machinery.

For its part, the US imports gas and petroleum, iron, and coffee from Brazil.

Brazil was not the only country Trump threatened with higher tariffs on Wednesday.

Japan, South Korea and Sri Lanka were among 22 nations which received letters warning of higher levies.

But the letter Trump sent to his Brazilian counterpart was the only one focussing matters beyond alleged trade deficits.

As well as denouncing the treatment of ex-President Bolsonaro, Trump slammed what he said were “secret and unlawful censorship orders to US social media platforms” which he said Brazil had imposed.

Trump Media, which operates the US president’s Truth Social platform and is majority-owned by him, is among the US tech companies fighting Brazilian court rulings over orders suspending social media accounts.

Lula fought back on that front too, justifying the rulings by arguing that “Brazilian society rejects hateful content, racism, child pornography, scams, fraud, and speeches against human rights and democratic freedom”.

Rafael Cortez, a political scientist with Brazilian consulting firm Tendências Consultoria, told BBC News Brasil that rather than hurt him, the overly political tone of Trump’s letter could end up benefitting Lula.

“Those confronting Trump win at home when Trump and other conservative leaders speak out on issues pertaining to their countries. That happened, to a certain degree, in Mexico, and the elections in Canada and Australia,” Mr Cortez says of other leaders who have challenged Trump and reaped the rewards in the form of rising popularity levels.

Creomar de Souza of the political risk consultancy Dharma Politics told BBC News Mundo’s Mariana Schreiber that it would depend on the Lula government coming up with organised and united response if it is to “score a goal” against Trump.