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News24
5 days ago
- Business
- News24
Trump hits Brazil with 50% tariff, blasts ex-president's treatment as ‘disgrace'
US President Donald Trump announced a 50 percent tariff Wednesday targeting Brazil as he blasted the trial of the country's ex-leader, and said a US "national security" levy on copper would begin in August. In a letter addressed to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Trump criticised the treatment of his right-wing ally Jair Bolsonaro as an "international disgrace." Bolsonaro is facing trial over accusations he plotted a coup after his narrow 2022 election loss to Lula. In response to Trump's tariff letter, Lula warned of possible reciprocation, writing on X that "any unilateral tariff increases will be addressed in light of the Brazilian Law of Economic Reciprocity." Brazil earlier on Wednesday said it had summoned the US charge d'affaires over Trump's previous criticism of the Bolsonaro trial. The 50 percent US tariff on Brazilian goods will take effect August 1, Trump said in his letter, mirroring a deadline which dozens of other economies face. On that same date, a 50 percent tariff on US imports of copper - a key metal used in green energy and other technologies - will take effect, Trump announced Wednesday evening on social media. He said the move followed a "robust NATIONAL SECURITY ASSESSMENT," likely alluding to a Department of Commerce investigation into copper launched earlier this year. "Copper is the second most used material by the Department of Defense!" Trump said. Trump's message to Lula was the latest in more than 20 such letters the US president has released since Monday, after repeatedly threatening to simply decide a rate for countries as negotiations continue over his elevated "reciprocal" tariffs. Brazil had not been among those threatened previously with duties above a 10 percent baseline, and the United States runs a goods trade surplus with Brazil. On Wednesday, Trump also addressed letters to leaders of the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Brunei, Algeria, Libya, Iraq and Moldova, spelling out duties ranging from 20 percent to 30 percent that would also take effect on August 1. Similar to a first batch of documents published Monday, the levels were not too far from those originally threatened in April, although some partners received notably lower rates this time. While Trump in April imposed a 10 percent levy on almost all trading partners, he unveiled -- and then withheld-- higher rates for dozens of economies. The deadline for those steeper levels to take effect was meant to be Wednesday, before Trump postponed it further to August 1. Countries that faced the threats of elevated duties began receiving letters spelling out US tariff rates on their products. In the messages, Trump justified his tariffs as a response to trade ties that he says are "far from Reciprocal." The letters urged countries to manufacture products in the United States to avoid duties, while threatening further escalation if leaders retaliated. Other countries that have received Trump's letters include key US allies Japan and South Korea, as well as Indonesia, Bangladesh and Thailand. Analysts have noted that Asian countries have been a key target so far. But all eyes are on the state of negotiations with major partners who have yet to receive such letters, including the European Union. The Trump administration is under pressure to unveil more trade pacts. So far, Washington has only reached agreements with Britain and Vietnam, alongside a deal to temporarily lower tit-for-tat levies with China. Trump on Tuesday said his government was "probably two days off" from sending the EU a letter with an updated tariff rate. An EU spokesman said Wednesday the bloc wants to strike a deal with the United States "in the coming days," and has shown readiness to reach an agreement in principle. Apart from tariffs targeting goods from different countries, Trump has rolled out sector-specific duties on steel, aluminium and autos since returning to the White House in January.
Al Jazeera
5 days ago
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Trump singles out Brazil for 50 percent tariffs, citing political motives
United States President Donald Trump has continued to publish letters announcing individualised tariff hikes for foreign trading partners. But on Wednesday, one of those letters was different from the rest. While most of the letters are virtually identical, denouncing trade relationships that are 'far from reciprocal', Trump's letter to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took a decidedly more personal — and more confrontational — approach. 'Due in part to Brazil's insidious attacks on Free Elections, and the fundamental Free Speech Rights of Americans', Trump wrote that he would be charging Brazil an extra 50-percent tax on any goods it exports to the US, separate from existing 'sectoral tariffs'. 'Please understand that the 50% number is far less than what is needed to have the Level Playing Field we must have with your Country,' Trump added. 'And it is necessary to have this to rectify the grave injustices of the current regime.' The letter marked the biggest attack yet in Trump's escalating feud with Lula, as he seeks to pressure Brazil to drop criminal charges against a fellow far-right leader, Jair Bolsonaro. Known as the 'Trump of the Tropics', Bolsonaro, a former army captain, led Brazil for a single term, from 2019 to 2023. Like Trump, Bolsonaro refused to concede his election loss to a left-wing rival. Like Trump, Bolsonaro also raised questions about the accuracy of the results, including by voicing doubts about electronic voting machines. And like Trump, Bolsonaro has faced legal repercussions, with court cases weighing whether he could be criminally liable for alleged actions he took to overturn his defeat. In Bolsonaro's case, the election in question took place in October 2022, against the current president, Lula. The results were narrow, but Lula edged Bolsonaro out in a run-off race, earning 50.9 percent of the vote. Still, Bolsonaro did not acknowledge his defeat and instead filed a legal complaint to contest the election results. Meanwhile, his followers attacked police headquarters, blocked highways, and even stormed government buildings in the capital, Brasilia, in an apparent attempt to spark a military backlash against Lula. Prosecutors, meanwhile, have accused Bolsonaro of conspiring with allies behind the scenes to stage a coup d'etat, one that might have seen Supreme Court justices arrested and a new election called. According to the indictment, Bolsonaro, as the outgoing president, considered provoking these changes by calling a 'state of siege', which would have empowered the military to take action. One of the other possibilities reportedly discussed was poisoning Lula. Bolsonaro and 33 others were charged in February, and the ex-president's case is ongoing before the Brazilian Supreme Court. The charges came as the result of a federal police investigation published in November 2024, which recommended a criminal trial. Bolsonaro, however, has denied any wrongdoing and has framed the trial as a politically motivated attack. Trump himself has faced two criminal indictments – one on the state level, the other federal – for allegedly seeking to overturn his loss in the 2020 election. He, too, called those cases attempts to derail his political career. In recent days, Trump has highlighted what he sees as parallels between their cases. On July 7, he wrote on social media that he empathised with what was happening to Bolsonaro: 'It happened to me, times 10.' He reprised that theme in Wednesday's letter, announcing the dramatic increase in tariffs against Brazil. '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,' Trump said. 'This trial should not be taking place,' he added. 'It is a Witch Hunt that should end IMMEDIATELY!' In addition to ramping up tariffs against Brazil, Trump revealed in his letter that he had directed US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer to investigate Brazil for unfair practices under the Trade Act of 1974. This is not the first time that Trump has lashed out at Brazil, though. In February, the Trump Media and Technology Group filed a Florida lawsuit against Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, arguing that his decisions curtailed online freedom of speech in the US. De Moraes had also overseen the investigation into Bolsonaro's alleged coup attempt, and he is a target of criticism among many on the far right. While Trump's tariff letter contained the standard language alleging that the US's trading relationship with Brazil was 'very unfair', the US actually enjoys a trade surplus with the South American country. According to the Office of the US Trade Representative, in 2024, the US imported a total of $42.3bn from Brazil. But that was dwarfed by the amount it exported to the country: $49.7bn. In short, Brazil's purchases from the US amounted to about $7.4bn more than US purchases from Brazil. Still, Trump has cited uneven trade relationships as the motivation for his tariffs, though he has also used them to influence other countries' policies, particularly with regards to immigration, digital services and transnational drug smuggling. On Wednesday, Bolsonaro took to social media to once again proclaim his innocence. In a separate case, he was barred from holding public office in Brazil for a period of eight years. 'Jair Bolsonaro is persecuted because he remains alive in the popular consciousness,' the ex-president wrote in the third person. 'Even out of power, he remains the most remembered name – and the most feared. That's why they try to annihilate him politically, morally, and judicially.' He also reposted a message from Trump himself: 'Leave the Great Former President of Brazil alone. WITCH HUNT!!!' Lula, meanwhile, responded to Trump's previous tariff threats on Monday by saying, 'The world has changed. We don't want an emperor.'
CTV News
6 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
Trump tariffs goods from Brazil at 50%, citing ‘witch hunt' trial against Bolsonaro
President Donald Trump speaks during a lunch with African leaders in the State Dining Room of the White House, Wednesday, July 9, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump singled out Brazil for import taxes of 50 per cent on Wednesday for its treatment of its former president, Jair Bolsonaro, showing that personal grudges rather than simple economics are a driving force in the U.S. leader's use of tariffs. Trump avoided his standard form letter with Brazil, specifically tying his tariffs to the trial of Bolsonaro, who is charged with trying to overturn his 2022 election loss. Trump has described Bolsonaro as a friend and hosted the former Brazilian president at his Mar-a-Lago resort when both were in power in 2020. 'This Trial should not be taking place,' Trump wrote in the letter posted on Truth Social. 'It is a Witch Hunt that should end IMMEDIATELY!' There is a sense kinship as Trump was indicted in 2023 for his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 U.S. presidential election. The U.S. president addressed his tariff letter to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who bested Bolsonaro in 2022. Bolsonaro testified before the country's Supreme Court in June over the alleged plot to remain in power after his 2022 election loss. Judges will hear from 26 other defendants in coming months. A decision could come as early as September, legal analysts say. Bolsonaro has already been ruled ineligible until 2030 by the country's electoral authorities. The Brazilian government did not immediately respond to Trump's posting of the letter. For Trump, the tariffs are personal Trump also objected to Brazil's Supreme Court fining of social media companies such as X, saying the temporary blocking last year amounted to 'SECRET and UNLAWFUL Censorship Orders.' Trump said he is launching an investigation as a result under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, which applies to companies with trade practices that are deemed unfair to U.S. companies. Unmentioned in the letter was that X is owned by Elon Musk, Trump's multibillionaire backer in the 2024 election whose time leading Trump's Department of Government Efficiency recently ended and led to a public feud over the U.S. president's deficit-increasing budget plan. Trump also owns a social media company, Truth Social. The Brazil letter was a reminder that politics and personal relations with Trump matter just as much as any economic fundamentals. And while Trump has said the high tariff rates he's setting are based on trade imbalances, it was unclear by his Wednesday actions how the countries being targeted would help to reindustrialize America. The tariffs starting Aug. 1 would be a dramatic increase from the 10 per cent rate that Trump levied on Brazil as part of his April 2 'Liberation Day' announcement. In addition to oil, Brazil sells orange juice, coffee, iron and steel to the U.S., among other products. The U.S. ran a US$6.8 billion trade surplus with Brazil last year, according to the Census Bureau. Trump also targeted smaller trade partners Trump also sent letters Wednesday to the leaders of seven other nations. None of them — the Philippines, Brunei, Moldova, Algeria, Libya, Iraq and Sri Lanka — is a major industrial rival to the United States. Most economic analyses say the tariffs will worsen inflationary pressures and subtract from economic growth, but Trump has used the taxes as a way to assert the diplomatic and financial power of the U.S. on both rivals and allies. His administration is promising that the taxes on imports will lower trade imbalances, offset some of the cost of the tax cuts he signed into law on Friday and cause factory jobs to return to the United States. Trump, during a White House meeting with African leaders, talked up trade as a diplomatic tool. Trade, he said, 'seems to be a foundation' for him to settle disputes between India and Pakistan, as well as Kosovo and Serbia. 'You guys are going to fight, we're not going to trade,' Trump said. 'And we seem to be quite successful in doing that.' On Monday, Trump placed a 35 per cent tariff on Serbia, one of the countries he was using as an example of how fostering trade can lead to peace. Trump said the tariff rates in his letters were based on 'common sense' and trade imbalances, even though the Brazil letter indicated otherwise. Trump suggested he had not thought of penalizing the countries whose leaders were meeting with him in the Oval Office — Liberia, Senegal, Gabon, Mauritania and Guinea-Bissau — as 'these are friends of mine now.' Countries are not complaining about the rates outlined in his letters, he said, even though those tariffs have been generally close to the ones announced April 2 that rattled financial markets. The S&P 500 stock index rose Wednesday. 'We really haven't had too many complaints because I'm keeping them at a very low number, very conservative as you would say,' Trump said. Tariff uncertainty returns with Trump's letters Officials for the European Union, a major trade partner and source of Trump's ire on trade, said Tuesday that they are not expecting to receive a letter from Trump listing tariff rates. The Republican president started the process of announcing tariff rates on Monday by hitting two major U.S. trading partners, Japan and South Korea, with import taxes of 25 per cent. According to Trump's Wednesday letters, imports from Libya, Iraq, Algeria and Sri Lanka would be taxed at 30 per cent, those from Moldova and Brunei at 25 per cent and those from the Philippines at 20 per cent. The tariffs would start Aug. 1. The Census Bureau reported that last year that the U.S. ran a trade imbalance on goods of $1.4 billion with Algeria, $5.9 billion with Iraq, $900 million with Libya, $4.9 billion with the Philippines, $2.6 billion with Sri Lanka, $111 million with Brunei and $85 million with Moldova. The imbalance represents the difference between what the U.S. exported to those countries and what it imported. Taken together, the trade imbalances with those seven countries are essentially a rounding error in a U.S. economy with a gross domestic product of $30 trillion. The letters were posted on Truth Social after the expiration of a 90-day negotiating period with a baseline levy of 10 per cent. Trump is giving countries more time to negotiate with his Aug. 1 deadline, but he has insisted there will be no extensions for the countries that receive letters. Maros Sefcovic, the EU's chief trade negotiator, told EU lawmakers in Strasbourg, France, on Wednesday that the EU had been spared the increased tariffs contained in the letters sent by Trump and that an extension of talks until Aug. 1 would provide 'additional space to reach a satisfactory conclusion.' Trump on April 2 proposed a 20 per cent tariff for EU goods and then threatened to raise that to 50 per cent after negotiations did not move as quickly as he would have liked, only to return to the 10 per cent baseline. The EU has 27 member states, including France, Germany, Italy and Spain. The tariff letters are worded aggressively in Trump's style of writing. He frames the tariffs as an invitation to 'participate in the extraordinary Economy of the United States,' adding that the trade imbalances are a 'major threat' to America's economy and national security. The president threatened additional tariffs on any country that attempts to retaliate. He said he chose to send the letters because it was too complicated for U.S. officials to negotiate with their counterparts in the countries with new tariffs. It can take years to broker trade accords. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba interpreted the Aug. 1 deadline as a delay to allow more time for negotiations, although he cautioned in remarks that the tariffs would hurt his nation's domestic industries and employment. Malaysia's trade minister, Zafrul Aziz, said Wednesday that his country would not meet all of the U.S. requests after a Trump letter placed a 25 per cent tariff on its goods. Aziz said U.S. officials are seeking changes in government procurement, halal certification, medical standards and digital taxes. Aziz he indicated those were red lines. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is set to arrive Thursday in Malaysia's capital of Kuala Lumpur. ___ Associated Press writers Mauricio Savarese in Rio de Janeiro, David McHugh in Frankfurt, Germany and Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, contributed to this report. Josh Boak, The Associated Press
Free Malaysia Today
6 days ago
- Business
- Free Malaysia Today
Trump says BRICS nations to get 10% tariff ‘pretty soon'
Leaders attending the 17th BRICS Summit pose for a group photo during the gathering in Rio de Janeiro. (AP pic) WASHINGTON : US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday the US would 'pretty soon' charge a 10% tariff on imports from BRICS countries, drawing another complaint from Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who just hosted the bloc's annual summit. Trump, who raised the tariff threat on Sunday, said in a Tuesday cabinet meeting at the White House that the duty was on the way: 'Anybody that's in BRICS is getting a 10% charge pretty soon … If they're a member of BRICS, they're going to have to pay a 10% tariff … and they won't be a member long.' The BRICS group expanded last year beyond Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa to include members such as Iran and Indonesia. Leaders at the summit in Rio de Janeiro voiced indirect criticism of US military and trade policies. Asked about Trump's tariff threat, Lula told journalists at the BRICS summit on Monday that the world does not want an emperor. After a state visit from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Lula on Tuesday expressed further disagreement. 'We will not accept any complaints about the BRICS summit. We do not agree with the US president insinuating he's going to put tariffs on BRICS countries,' he told journalists in Brasilia. Trump gave no specific date for the BRICS tariff to kick in. On Monday, a source familiar with the matter said the Trump administration would charge the tariff only if countries adopted anti-American policies, differentiating actions from statements like the one adopted by the BRICS leaders on Sunday. Trump claimed without evidence on Tuesday that the group was set up to hurt the United States and the US dollar's role as the world's reserve currency. He said he would not allow that to happen. 'BRICS was set up to degenerate our dollar and take our dollar … take it off as the standard,' he said. 'And that's okay if they want to play that game, but I can play that game too.' Trump said losing the dollar's role as the world's reserve currency would be like 'losing a war, a major world war. We would not be the same country any longer.' Brazil in February nixed plans for a common currency agenda during its presidency year.
Bloomberg
01-07-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Lula Fights to Tax the Rich in Preview of 2026 Election Battle
By , Simone Iglesias, and Daniel Carvalho Updated on Save Lea en español. Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva picked a fight with Congress over taxation of the rich, offering an early glimpse of political and economic debates that are set to rage through the country's presidential election next year.
