President Donald Trump sent his Brazilian counterpart a stunning letter Wednesday, informing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva that his country would face a new 50% tariff “due in part to…the way Brazil has treated” former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, a Trump political ally.
Trump blamed the massive spike in tariffs partly on “Brazil’s insidious attacks on Free Elections, and the fundamental Free Speech Rights of Americans.” The first reference is related to the trial of Bolsonaro, a one-time frequent visitor to Mar-a-Lago, on charges of attempting to illegally overturn his country’s presidential election results in 2022. “This trial should not be taking place,” Trump wrote. “It is a Witch Hunt that should end IMMEDIATELY!”
The latter accusation stems from a Brazilian Supreme Court ruling last month that deemed social media companies are responsible for the content posted on their platforms. (Ironically, this is also a goal of many American conservatives who advocate for revoking Section 230, which shields American platforms from being accountable for their users’ posts.) X was also briefly banned in the country during a standoff with billionaire Elon Musk over a court request to ban accounts that violated local laws. Trump railed against this and other court decisions in his letter as “SECRET and UNLAWFUL Censorship Orders to US. Social Media platforms.”
But Trump also attempted to frame the decision as one grounded in legitimate economic and trade issues. “In addition, we have had years to discuss our Trading Relationship with Brazil, and have concluded that we must move away from the longstanding, and very unfair trade relationship engendered by Brazil’s Tariff, and Non-Tariff, Policies and Trade Barriers. Our relationship has been, unfortunately, far from Reciprocal,” he wrote. Contrary to Trump’s claims, though, the United States holds a $7 billion trade surplus with Brazil.
The letter was one of roughly two dozen that the White House is sending to countries ahead of its shifting deadline to conclude new trade negotiations or face heightened tariffs. But the missive to Lula de Silva is far more aggressive both in tone and rate than any other sent to world leaders this week. At times, it reads like an extension of Trump’s recent Truth Social posts slamming Bolsonaro’s trial.
As my colleague Steve Benen noted Tuesday, this marks the third foreign politician Trump has attempted to shield from accountability in their own country. The devotion to Bolsonaro specifically makes a certain amount of sense. Aside from being deemed “Tropical Trump” for his political style and brashness, according to Brazil’s prosecutor-general, Bolsonaro all but copied Trump’s 2020 playbook in his own attempt to retain power.
But the decision to use tariffs as a cudgel to bring Brazil to heel for following its own laws marks a distinct shift in Trump’s willingness to engage in economic warfare for his own personal interests. And in the end, with prices on household items like coffee already set to rise, it will be American consumers who are forced to pay the cost of the president stepping in to defend his fellow authoritarian.
