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US President Donald Trump speaks during a multilateral lunch with visiting African Leaders in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on July 9, 2025.
Jim Watson | Afp | Getty Images
President Donald Trump said Wednesday the U.S. will slap a 50% tariff on Brazil's imports, partly in retaliation for the ongoing prosecution of the country's former president, Jair Bolsonaro.
Trump said in a letter that the new tariff — a massive jump from the 10% rate the U.S. imposed on Brazil in early April — was also spurred by the "very unfair trade relationship" between the two countries.
Trump claimed that Brazil's trade policies have caused "unsustainable Trade Deficits against the United States," which threaten the U.S. economy and national security.
But the U.S. has a goods trade surplus with Brazil, which totaled $7.4 billion in 2024, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
The U.S. is also launching an investigation into potential unfair trade practices by Brazil, Trump said in a letter to Brazil's current president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
The probe is based on "Brazil's continued attacks on the Digital Trade activities of American Companies," Trump wrote in the letter, which he shared publicly in a Truth Social post.
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