Trump Announces 50% Tariff on Brazilian Imports Starting August 1, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump revealed plans to implement a 50% tariff on all goods imported from Brazil, effective August 1, 2025.
In a letter dated July 9, 2025, addressed to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Trump justified the move by citing Brazil’s treatment of former President Jair Bolsonaro and what he described as violations of free speech.
“Due in part to Brazil’s insidious attacks on free elections and the core free speech rights of Americans… we will impose a 50% tariff on all Brazilian products entering the United States,” Trump wrote.
He singled out the Brazilian Supreme Court, accusing it of issuing “hundreds of secret and unlawful censorship orders” to U.S. social media platforms, along with threats of hefty fines and possible expulsion from Brazil’s digital market.
Trump also instructed U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer to begin a Section 301 investigation into Brazil’s digital trade policies and what he called other unfair trade practices targeting American businesses.
Calling the current trade dynamic “very unfair” and “non-reciprocal,” Trump said the 50% tariff is “still well below what’s needed” to balance the scales.
The letter offered an alternative for Brazilian companies: avoid the tariff by shifting manufacturing operations to the U.S., with fast-track approval promised within weeks.
Trump also cautioned that any retaliatory tariffs from Brazil would be met with equivalent increases on top of the 50% already announced.
He ended the letter by leaving the door open for tariff revisions—either increases or reductions—based on future trade cooperation, especially if Brazil opens its markets more fully to U.S. goods.
