The US and Brazil on Wednesday escalated their row over US President Donald Trump’s support for former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, with Washington slapping a 50 percent tariff on one of its main steel suppliers.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva threatened to reciprocate.
Trump has criticized the prosecution of Bolsonaro, who is on trial for allegedly plotting to cling on to power after losing 2022 elections to Lula.
Photo: Reuters
Brasilia on Wednesday summoned Washington’s top envoy to the country to explain an embassy statement describing Bolsonaro as a victim of “political persecution” — echoing Trump’s description of the treatment of Bolsonaro as a “witch hunt.”
Trump said that he would impose a 50 percent tariff on Brazilian imports starting on Aug. 1, citing “Brazil’s insidious attacks on free elections” and warning of escalation if the country retaliated.
In a letter addressed to Lula, Trump called the treatment of Bolsonaro an “international disgrace,” and said the trial “should not be taking place.”
Washington would launch an investigation into Brazil’s trade practices, he added.
While Trump has been issuing letters to trading partners — focusing on those his country runs a deficit with — Brazil had not been among those threatened with higher duties.
The South American nation is the second-largest exporter of steel to the US after Canada, shipping 4 million tonnes of the metal last year.
The new 50 percent tariff was independent of sector-specific levies, with the US recently doubling duties on steel and aluminum imports to 50 percent.
Lula wrote on X that “any unilateral tariff increases will be addressed in light of the Brazilian Law of Economic Reciprocity.”
Trade between the two countries reached US$41.7 billion in the first six months of this year, with US$20 billion for exports from Brazil and US$21.7 billion for US products, Brazilian government data showed.
On Monday, Trump urged Brazilian authorities to “LEAVE BOLSONARO ALONE,” in a post on social media.
“They have done nothing but come after him, day after day, night after night, month after month, year after year!” he wrote.
Lula, who narrowly beat Bolsonaro in a divisive election in 2022, hit back at Trump’s “interference,” insisting that “no one is above the law.”
Bolsonaro denies he was involved in an attempt to wrest power back from Lula as part of an alleged coup plot that prosecutors say failed only for a lack of military backing.
Bolsonaro supporters raided government buildings in 2023 as they urged the military to oust Lula.
Bolsonaro was abroad at the time.
The case against Bolsonaro has echoes of Trump’s prosecution over the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol.
Trump pleaded not guilty and the case was abandoned when he was re-elected president.
The cases have drawn the Trump and Bolsonaro families together, with the Brazilian former leader’s sons lobbying for US sanctions against one of the Brazilian Supreme Court judges sitting on their father’s trial.
In his post on Monday, Trump suggested that Bolsonaro was the favorite in presidential elections next year, despite him being banned from running for spreading disinformation about Brazil’s voting system.
Bolsonaro thanked Trump for his defense of “peace, justice and liberty” in a social media post.
On Wednesday, the US embassy in Brasilia issued a statement to “reinforce” Trump’s support for the embattled former army captain, who risks a 40-year prison sentence.
“Jair Bolsonaro and his family have been strong partners of the United States,” the statement said. “The political persecution against him, his family, and his followers is shameful and disrespects Brazil’s democratic traditions.”
Members of the BRICS grouping, meeting in Brazil this week, criticized Trump’s imposition of import tariffs and his bombing of Iran.
This drew the US president’s ire and a threat of 10 percent additional tariffs on each BRICS-aligned country.
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