Brazil is condemned to match US tariffs after Trump threatens a 50% fee

Brazilian President Louis Inasio Lula da Silva said he was ready to compare all the tariffs imposed on Brazil by the United States.

Lula reacted to the threat of Wednesday by her American counterpart Donald Trump to They have a 50% tax on the import of Brazilian goods since August 1.

In a letter, Trump pointed to the treatment of Brazil of former President Jeir Bolsonaro as a trigger for a tariff march.

Bolsonaro is currently tested for seeking a coup against Lula after he was defeated by him in the 2022 election.

Trump pointed to Bolsonaro as “a very respected leader around the world.” “This ordeal should not be held,” he wrote, urging Brazil to immediately terminate “witch hunt” against the former president.

Trump’s support for Bolsonaro is no surprise as the two men have long been considered allies.

The US president had already hit Brazil because of Bolsonaro’s treatment on Monday, comparing him to the legal cases he himself encountered in the US courts.

A 50% tariff threat was met with a healthy and prolonged response from President Lula.

In an X publication, he stressed that Brazil is a “sovereign country with independent institutions and will not accept any tutelage.”

The Brazilian leader has also announced that “any unilateral increase in tariffs” will be met with reciprocal tariffs imposed on US goods.

The United States is Brazil’s second largest trading partner after China, so the increase from the 10% tariff rate to a 50% inspection – if it comes into force – it would strike a highly South American nation.

But Lula also made sense of Trump’s claim that the United States has a trade deficit with Brazil, calling it “inaccurate”.

Lula’s refutation is supported by US government datawhich suggests that the United States had an excess of $ 7.4 billion in trade in Brazil goods ($ 5.4 billion) in 2024.

Brazil is the 15th largest trading partner of the United States and among its main imports from the United States are mineral fuels, planes and machines.

The United States, for its part, imports gas and oil, iron and coffee from Brazil.

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

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

But the letter Trump sent to his Brazilian counterpart was the only focusing question beyond the alleged trade deficits.

In addition to denying the treatment of former President Bolsonaro, Trump has stabbed what they said they were “secret and illegal orders for censorship of US social media platforms” that Brazil said.

The Trump media, which operates the social platform of the US president and is owned by a majority of it, is among the US technology companies fighting Brazilian judgments for orders that stop accounts on social media.

Lula is also fighting on this front, justifying decisions, claiming that “Brazilian society rejects hateful content, racism, childhood pornography, fraud, fraud and statements against human rights and democratic freedom.”

Rafael Cortez, a political scientist at the Brazilian consulting firm Tendnding Consultoria, told the BBC News Brasil that instead of injuring it, the too political tone of Trump’s letter could benefit from a pipe.

“Those who face Trump win at home when Trump and other conservative leaders talk about issues related to their countries. This happened, to Mexico and the elections in Canada and Australia,” says G -C Cortes for other leaders.

Creomar de Souza by the political risk consultant Dharma Politics told the BBC News Mundo Mariana Schreiber that it would depend on the fact that the Lula Government came up with an organized and united response if it “achieves a goal” against Trump.