Los Angeles, (EFE) .- President Donald Trump announced the application of a 50% tariff to Brazil’s imports in retaliation for the judicial process against the Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2023).
“Due in part to the insidious attacks of Brazil to the free elections and the fundamental rights of freedom of expression of the Americans, as of August 1, 2025 we will charge a 50% tariff on each and every one of the Brazilian products to the United States, apart from all sectoral tariffs,” he said in a letter published in his network, Truth Social.
This percentage, as he considered, “is much less than what is needed to have equal conditions” that the United States must have with that country.
After years to discuss a better agreement, the letter indicated that the US must be left “from the long -standing commercial relationship and very unfair generated by tariff and non -tariff policies and the commercial barriers of Brazil”.
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Trump threatened in the document that if Brasilia decides to increase taxes on US imports, “the amount to climb them will be added to 50%” that will begin to collect from next month.
“If you want to open your commercial markets, so far closed, to the US and eliminate your tariff and non -tariff policies, as well as commercial barriers, perhaps consider an adjustment to this letter. These taxes can be modified upwards or the decline depending on our relationship with your country,” said his message.
The text, sent to the president of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, is the first whose content significantly modifies the letters sent so far, in which the name of the country barely changed and the percentage of the tax contemplated.
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The increase planned to Brazil occurs the same day that the 90 -day commercial truce that Trump granted on April 9 to its partners to negotiate new rates, although the Republican leader extended that period until August 1, would have expired on August 9.
However, since then he began sending letters to countries with which he has not yet reached an agreement warning them that if they do not open their market and eliminate tariffs and tariff barriers, it will impose tariffs set unilaterally.
Lula calls emergency meeting
The Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva government called an emergency meeting on Wednesday after Trump’s announcement, official sources reported.
The Vice President and Minister of Commerce, Geraldo Alckmin, as well as the heads of exterior portfolios, Mauro Vieira; and Hacienda, Fernando Haddad, among others, participate in the meeting, which is held at the Planalto presidential palace, in Brasilia.
According to sources from the Presidency, cited by local media, the objective is to discuss the way in which the Brazilian government will proceed to the announcement of the Republican leader.
Since Trump made the first taxes of taxes, last April, Lula has been emphatic in pointing out that Brazil reserves the right to act in a reciprocal way, with the application of tariffs equivalent to US products, and that it could take the matter to the World Trade Organization (WTO).
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However, the Government has also insisted on negotiations which has advanced Vice President Alckmin directly with senior Trump government officials.
Until now, 10% of tariffs that Trump imposed to dozens of countries, and 25% that applied to American and aluminum imports weigh two important sectors for the Brazilian industry.
The announcement of a 50% tariff on Brazilian imports arrived hours after the Brazilian Foreign Ministry summoned the Business Manager of the US Embassy, Gabriel Escobar.
In the meeting, Brazil transmitted his “discomfort” to the diplomat for a note that disseminated that legation in defense of former president Jair Bolsonaro.
Official sources told Efe that the Secretary for North America of the Foreign Ministry, María Luisa Escorel, told Escobar that the “protest” of the Brazilian government was due to the “undue interference” of the US government in internal matters.
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