Donald Trump’s tariffs on Brazil are more bark than bite

The Americas | Aug 8th 2025

When Donald Trump first announced his tariff barrage on April 2nd, it was pitched as payback against countries that had “looted” and “pillaged” the United States through trade. But when the latest round of levies came into force on August 7th, Brazil, a country which imports more from the United States than it exports to it, was hit with a rate of 50%, one of the steepest in the world.

The reason was not economic. Mr Trump is incensed that his ally, Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s hard-right former president, is on trial, accused of plotting a coup. The tariffs, he claimed, were a response to that “witch hunt”. Brazil was not the only country targeted for political reasons. India faces a comparable rate for buying Russian oil. Mr Trump warned Mark Carney, Canada’s prime minister, that recognising a Palestinian state would make trade negotiations “very hard”. Brazil’s case, though, is the clearest yet of Mr Trump using trade as a cudgel to interfere in another country’s affairs.