On Wednesday, the US made good on its threats to apply 50 per cent tariffs on Brazil two days ahead of schedule and imposed sanctions on the supreme court justice overseeing the criminal case against former president Jair Bolsonaro.
The dual measures showed that, just as Brazilian officials sought dialogue, the White House sharply escalated the growing diplomatic crisis between the western hemisphere’s two most populous nations.
The tariffs against Brazil are the highest of any levy US president Donald Trump has imposed this year, though they exclude many of Brazil’s key exports to the United States, such as commercial aircraft, energy products and orange juice.
Brazil is also the only country to face tariffs while carrying a trade surplus with the US.
RM Block
The actions against Alexandre de Moraes, a Brazilian supreme court justice, are a highly unusual use of some of the gravest human rights sanctions the US government has at its disposal.
Trump is targeting Brazil for what he calls political persecution of his ally, Bolsonaro, and illegal censorship of conservative voices online. In an executive order Wednesday, he said actions by Brazil’s government and supreme court “threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States”.
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil has publicly defied Trump for weeks, including in an interview with The New York Times published hours before the US government actions Wednesday.
“I think it’s important for president Trump to consider: If he wants to have a political fight, then let’s treat it as a political fight,” Lula told the Times. “If he wants to talk trade, let’s sit down and discuss trade. But you can’t mix everything together.”
Trump has called on Brazil to drop the charges against Bolsonaro, who is accused of orchestrating an attempted coup after losing the 2022 elections. Lula and de Moraes have pledged not to allow Trump to interfere in Brazil’s judicial process.
[ Trump pledges 50% tariffs against Brazil, citing ‘witch hunt’ against BolsonaroOpens in new window ]
Lula told the New York Times on Tuesday that his government had been studying retaliatory tariffs against some American products if Trump went through with his threats. Now, he is faced with the decision of whether to launch a trade war against Brazil’s second-largest trading partner after China.
Last year, the US had a $7.4 billion trade surplus with Brazil on about $92 billion in trade.
Trump’s efforts to come to the aid of Bolsonaro could soon mean higher prices for items such as coffee and beef – products that are significantly sourced from Brazil.
Yet, his executive order on Wednesday also said that many products would be exempt from the levy. The US imports about 90 per cent of its fresh orange juice from Brazil, which will not be affected by the new tariffs.
More than 40 per cent of Brazilian exports would be exempt from the tariffs, according to estimates from the American Chamber of Commerce in Brazil.
The levies will go into effect in a week, but goods already in transit will be exempt from taxes if they arrive in the United States by October 5th, according to the executive order.
The treasury department sanctions against de Moraes would revoke his US visa and freeze any US assets, as well as generally prohibit many financial institutions from doing transactions with him. Yet, the US state department already revoked his visa this month, and de Moraes does not have bank accounts or financial assets in the United States, according to a spokesperson for Brazil’s supreme court.
Given the broad tariff exemptions, the actions on Wednesday could end up being less crippling than they appear – but they are a clear signal from the Trump administration that it is prepared for a fight with Brazil.
In a statement, Brazil’s supreme court defended de Moraes and said the case against Bolsonaro involves a “a serious attack on Brazilian democracy,” falling within “the exclusive jurisdiction” of the country’s courts.
The president’s office did not immediately comment.
De Moraes has become perhaps the most divisive figure in Brazil. For years, he has acted as the central check on Bolsonaro and his right-wing allies, many of whom attacked Brazil’s institutions and claimed the 2022 election was rigged despite a lack of evidence.
[ Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro to stand trial for alleged coup attemptOpens in new window ]
When Brazilian highway police officers stopped busloads of voters in leftist strongholds on election day in 2022, for example, it was de Moraes who ordered the police to let them proceed.
But in his fight to protect democracy, he has also been viewed, at times, as having taken authoritarian measures.
He has unilaterally ordered technological companies to take down hundreds of popular social media accounts because, he said, they threatened democracy, but he has refused to disclose how.
He has jailed people without a trial for threats they posted online. And he has presided over cases in which he was, in effect, the judge and prosecutor.
Yet, many of his decisions have also been backed up by a majority of supreme court justices, who have said that his extraordinary powers are needed to fight an extraordinary threat to Brazil’s democracy.
The moves have made him an intense target. In Brazil, there have been failed assassination attempts on his life. In the US, billionaire Elon Musk criticised him for months over his orders against X. And, now, the White House has put him on a sanctions list shared by many of the world’s worst human rights abusers.
On Tuesday, Lula said that the US efforts to target de Moraes were a dangerous infringement on Brazil’s democracy.
“The supreme court of a country has to be respected not only by its own country, but it has to be respected by the world,” he said. “I will never question someone from America’s supreme court.”
US secretary of state Marco Rubio, who first floated the idea of sanctions against de Moraes in June, said the Brazilian justice had been targeted with economic penalties because he had committed “serious human rights abuses”.
“Let this be a warning to those who would trample on the fundamental rights of their countrymen – judicial robes cannot protect you,” he said in a social media post.
Trump’s aggressive attempts to aid Bolsonaro come just weeks before the former Brazilian president is poised to stand trial on the coup charges.
Brazilian prosecutors say he sought to overturn the 2022 vote, dismantle courts and hand special powers to the military. And, in perhaps the most damning accusation, the police say the conspiracy included a plot to assassinate Lula and de Moraes.
Bolsonaro denies knowledge of an assassination plan, but admits to studying “ways within the constitution” to hold on to power after the election.
After Bolsonaro left office, thousands of his supporters ransacked government buildings in Brazil’s capital, in an episode that echoed the January 6th, 2021, riots on the US Capitol.
Bolsonaro has suggested that immunity from prosecution, for him and his allies, is the path to an economic truce with the US. Lawmakers aligned with Bolsonaro are pushing for an amnesty bill, though Lula is likely to veto it.
The US measures are a major win for Bolsonaro, who could face decades in prison if he is found guilty.
For months, Eduardo Bolsonaro, the former president’s son, has been lobbying the White House to apply sanctions against de Moraes and other judges, arguing that Brazil’s supreme court is unfairly targeting his father and other right-wing voices.
“Today is a historic day,” Eduardo Bolsonaro said in a statement, thanking Trump and Rubio for the “courage” to apply sanctions against de Moraes. “I will be eternally grateful to them for this act.”
– This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
