President Trump on Wednesday announced plans to impose a 50 percent tariff on all goods from Brazil, in part due to the prosecution of former President Jair Bolsonaro over an alleged plot to remain in power after losing an election.
Trump, who has criticized Brazil’s treatment of Bolsonaro in recent days, cited the ongoing trial in a letter to current Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
“The way that Brazil has treated former President Bolsonaro, a Highly Respected Leader throughout the World during his Term, including by the United States, is an international disgrace. This Trial should not be taking place. It is a Witch Hunt that should end IMMEDIATELY!” Trump wrote.
The president said the U.S. would impose a 50 percent tariff on Brazil, effective Aug. 1, “due in part to Brazil’s insidious attacks on Free Elections and the fundamental Free Speech Rights of Americans.” Trump also cited Brazil’s “Tariff, and Non-Tariff, Policies and Trade Barriers.”
This week, Trump announced steep tariffs against more than a dozen other nations that will go into effect on Aug. 1, following through on “reciprocal” tariffs he first announced in April.
The letter to Brazil underscores that Trump is not basing his tariffs against other nations solely on economic policy, but that it may also be influenced by personal animus. Earlier Wednesday, Trump said he was calculating tariff rates based on “common sense, based on deficits, based on how we’ve been treated over the years.”
Trump and Bolsonaro have expressed mutual admiration in the past, and Bolsonaro’s efforts to remain in power carried echoes of Trump’s refusal to concede after losing the 2020 election.
Bolsonaro and dozens of allies were charged in February in connection with a plot to remain in power after the 2022 election. Bolsonaro, who has claimed he is being politically targeted, testified in the trial last month.
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