Trump announces new tariffs on Brazil, 6 smaller economies

Adapting his “flood the zone” tactic to foreign trade, US President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday another flurry of take-it-or-leave-it letters imposing tariffs on Brazil and six smaller economies that have resisted him or are too small to merit individual negotiating attention.

Late Wednesday, the US president threatened to slap a 50 per cent tariff on Brazil in part as retaliation for its ongoing prosecution of his ally, the country’s former president Jair Bolsonaro. This represented a five-fold jump from the rate Trump imposed in April.

“It is a Witch Hunt that should end IMMEDIATELY!” he wrote on his social media account.

On Monday, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva responded to Trump’s earlier criticism over a trial Bolsonaro is facing for an attempted coup.

“I think it’s very wrong and very irresponsible for a president to be threatening others on social media,” Lula told reporters. “People have to learn that respect is a good thing.”

Trump also slammed Brazil’s “unsustainable Trade Deficits” against the United States even though the US had a US$7.4 billion goods surplus with the country in 2024.

The move against Brazil followed unilateral actions against six smaller economies earlier in the day. These were 20 per cent tariffs on the Philippines, 25 per cent on Moldova and Brunei, and 30 per cent on Iraq, Algeria and Libya, effective August 1. These, the letters added, are separate from any sectoral tariffs that may be imposed later.