Trump hits Brazilian products with 50% tariffs over Bolsonaro

Brazilian products are subject to a 50% tariff not because of Brazil’s trade policies, but because of Trump’s relationship with Brazil's former president.

WASHINGTON — Products imported to the U.S. from Brazil — including almost a third of the supply relied on every day by America’s coffee drinkers — are subject to a 50% tariff beginning Friday, not because of Brazil’s trade policies, but because of President Donald Trump’s relationship with the country’s former strongman president Jair Bolsonaro, and because of the actions of one of the justices of Brazil’s supreme court.

Trump typically justifies his tariffs by pointing to the U.S. trade deficit and saying that other nations are taking advantage of the United States. Many economists disagree with his view, but it doesn’t matter in this instance: The U.S. actually has a trade surplus with Brazil of hundreds of billions of dollars over more than a decade, not a deficit.

Still, on Friday, Trump imposed a total 50% tariff on certain products imported from Brazil, the highest rate of any country in the world.

Earlier this week, the Trump administration also slapped the supreme court justice, Alexandre de Moraes, with tough sanctions under the Magnitsky Act, a law originally passed by Congress with the intent of punishing Russian President Vladimir Putin and his allies after the death in prison of Sergei Magnitsky, who had been investigating corruption in Russia. In a post on X, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the sanctions had been imposed “for serious human rights abuses.”

What are the alleged human rights abuses? De Moraes has been overseeing the case against Bolsonaro, who is charged along with some 30 others — including the former commander of Brazil’s navy, the former defense minister and the former intelligence chief — with trying to stage a coup to prevent the current president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, from taking office after he defeated Bolsonaro in a 2022 election.