Trump says 50% tariff on Brazil is coming

President Trump unveiled a 50% tariff on Brazilian goods starting Aug. 1, the highest tariff announced so far this week in a flurry of missives to foreign leaders. Unlike the form letter the president has sent to many other countries, Trump used his letter to Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, to criticize the country’s legal case against Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s former president.

The tariffs, Trump wrote, would be based in part on Brazil’s “insidious attacks on Free Elections” and its treatment of Bolsonaro, which Trump called “a Witch Hunt” and “an international disgrace.” The letter was published after the U.S. stock-market closed on Trump’s Truth Social platform.

Investors took Trump’s preview of the Brazil letter and communiques to seven other tariff targets in stride. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed to a record, rising 0.9% to eclipse its previous high from July 3.

Trump has posted 22 letters to countries around the world this week, including trade partners such as Japan, South Korea and Sri Lanka, outlining new tariffs on their goods he says will come into force on August 1st. The moves have largely served to revive plans he had put forward in April but that were put on hold after financial markets recoiled at the measures. 

But the message to Brazil was a far more targeted missive and threatened a significant increase from the 10% rate the White House had previously announced. Brazil has yet to respond.

It looks like Mr. Trump will not be backing down from imposing his tariffs on multiple counties around the world.