US President Donald Trump answers questions during a multilateral lunch with African leaders in the White House state dining room on July 9, 2025.
Get McNamee | Getty Images
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the US will slap 50% tariffs on Brazilian imports.
In a letter, Trump said the massive jump from the 10% rate that the US imposed on Brazil in early April was in response to “very unfair trade relations” between the two countries.
A letter to Brazil's current president, Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva, follows nearly 20 others Trump recently sent to other world leaders, and has decided on a sudden new tariff charge for items for sale to the US.
But letters to Lula go even further than others by being explicitly imposed as punishment for a country engaged in internal political and legal issues that Trump dislikes.
The value of Brazilian currency, Authenticwhich fell more than 2% against the US dollar following Trump's announcement.
Trump previously squealed in Brazil about his treatment of Bolsonaro, a US president's voice ally, who is on trial over his role over the coup that overturns his 2022 re-election loss.
In his letter, Trump called the situation an “international dishonor” and shared it publicly in a true social post.
Trump also argued that Brazil's trade policy would cause an “unsustainable trade deficit against the United States,” threatening the US economy and national security.
However, according to the US Trade Representative, the US has a commodity trade surplus with Brazil, totaling $7.4 billion in 2024.
The US is also beginning to investigate potential practices in Brazil's unfair trade practices, Trump wrote in a letter.
He said the investigation was based on “an ongoing attack on the digital trade activities of American companies in Brazil.”
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