Trump Hits Brazil with 50% Tariffs and Sanctions

Trump signed executive actions on Wednesday imposing a 50% tariff on Brazil, a 50% tariff on certain copper products and suspending a tax perk for all countries that allowed cheap packages to fly into the US duty-free.

He also announced in a Truth Social post that his administration has a trade framework in place with Pakistan, although details were thin. Trump said the agreement, if completed, would include developing Pakistan’s oil reserves with a yet-to-be-named oil company.

The order that Trump signed on Wednesday, which increases Brazil’s tariff by 40 percentage points, effective early next month, accuses the Brazilian government of “serious human rights abuses that have undermined the rule of law in Brazil.”

“The Order finds that the Government of Brazil’s politically motivated persecution, intimidation, harassment, censorship, and prosecution of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and thousands of his supporters are serious human rights abuses that have undermined the rule of law in Brazil,” the order reads.

The announcement of the increased tariff rate comes the same day that the United States is sanctioning Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, 12 days after announcing visa restrictions against him and other court officials over Bolsonaro’s trial.

Trump has sought other ways to punish Brazil for Bolsonaro’s prosecution as well. On Wednesday the US imposed sanctions against Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes for what it considers “serious human rights violations.”

Copper tariffs

In a separate presidential proclamation, Trump imposed “universal 50% tariffs on imports of semi-finished copper products,” including pipes, wires, and sheets, and “copper-intensive derivative products,” the White House said in a fact sheet. It characterized the move as critical for US national security, saying that Trump “is leveling the playing field for U.S. copper businesses to support a strong domestic copper industry.”

De minimis loophole closed

Finally, Trump suspended a tax perk for all countries known as the “de minimis exemption,” which allowed duty-free shipments of goods worth $800 or less. Trump had previously targeted the exemption in the US-China trade war, but the latest move closes the option of back-door shipments through other countries. That will particularly impact e-commerce giants like Shein and Temu.