U.S. Hits Brazil With 50% Tariffs and Sanctions in Sharp Escalation

The United States on Wednesday made good on its threats to apply 50 percent tariffs on Brazil two days ahead of schedule and slapped sanctions on the Supreme Court justice overseeing the criminal case against former President Jair Bolsonaro.

The dual measures showed that, just as Brazilian officials sought dialogue, the White House sharply escalated the growing diplomatic crisis between the Western Hemisphere’s two most populous nations.

The tariffs against Brazil are the highest of any levy President Trump has imposed this year, though they exclude many of Brazil’s key exports to the United States, like commercial aircrafts, energy products and orange juice. Brazil is also the only country to face tariffs while carrying a trade surplus with the United States.

Mr. Trump is targeting Brazil for what he calls political persecution of his ally, Mr. Bolsonaro, and illegal censorship of conservative voices online. In an executive order on Wednesday, he said actions by Brazil’s government and Supreme Court “threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States.”

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil has publicly defied Mr. Trump for weeks, including in an interview with The New York Times published hours ahead of the U.S. government actions on Wednesday.

Mr. Lula told The Times on Tuesday that his government had been studying retaliatory tariffs against some American products if Mr. Trump went through with his threats. Now he is faced with the decision of whether to launch a trade war against Brazil’s second-largest trading partner after China.

Last year, the United States had a $7.4 billion trade surplus with Brazil on about $92 billion in trade.

Mr. Trump’s efforts to come to the aid of Mr. Bolsonaro could soon mean higher prices for items like coffee and beef — products that are significantly sourced from Brazil.

Yet, his executive order on Wednesday also said that many products would be exempt from the levy. The United States imports about 90 percent of its fresh orange juice from Brazil, which will not be affected by the new tariffs.

More than 40 percent of Brazilian exports would be exempt from the tariffs, according to estimates from the American Chamber of Commerce in Brazil.

The levies will go into effect in a week, but goods already in transit will be exempt from taxes if they arrive in the United States by Oct. 5, according to the executive order.

Given the broad tariff exemptions, the actions on Wednesday could end up being less crippling than they appear — but they are a clear signal from the Trump administration that it is prepared for a fight with Brazil.

The sanctions against Justice Moraes were issued under the Global Magnitsky Act, a measure that is usually meant to punish foreigners accused of serious human-rights violations or corruption.

“Moraes is responsible for an oppressive campaign of censorship, arbitrary detentions that violate human rights, and politicized prosecutions — including against former President Jair Bolsonaro,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a news release.

Brazil's Supreme Court and the president’s office did not immediately comment.

Justice Moraes has become perhaps the most divisive figure in Brazil. For years, he has acted as the central check on Mr. Bolsonaro and his right-wing allies, many of whom attacked Brazil’s institutions and claimed the 2022 election was rigged despite a lack of evidence. When Brazilian highway police officers stopped busloads of voters in leftist strongholds on Election Day in 2022, for example, it was Justice Moraes who ordered the police to let them proceed.

But in his fight to protect democracy, he has also been viewed, at times, as having taken authoritarian measures.

He has unilaterally ordered technological companies to take down hundreds of popular social media accounts because, he said, they threatened democracy, but he has refused to disclose how. He has jailed people without a trial for threats they posted online. And he has presided over cases in which he was, in effect, the judge and prosecutor.

Yet, many of his decisions have also been backed up by a majority of Supreme Court justices, who have said that his extraordinary powers are needed to fight an extraordinary threat to Brazil’s democracy.

The moves have made him an intense target. In Brazil, there have been failed assassination attempts on his life. In the United States, the billionaire Elon Musk criticized him for months over his orders against X. And, now, the White House has put him on a sanctions list shared by many of the world’s worst human rights abusers.

On Tuesday, Mr. Lula said that the U.S. efforts to target Justice Moraes were a dangerous infringement on Brazil’s democracy.

“The Supreme Court of a country has to be respected not only by its own country, but it has to be respected by the world,” he said. “I will never question someone from America’s Supreme Court.”

Mr. Rubio, who first floated the idea of sanctions against Justice Moraes in June, said the Brazilian justice had been targeted with economic penalties because he had committed “serious human rights abuses.”

“Let this be a warning to those who would trample on the fundamental rights of their countrymen — judicial robes cannot protect you,” he said in a social media post.

Mr. Trump’s aggressive attempts to aid Mr. Bolsonaro come just weeks before the former Brazilian president is poised to stand trial on the coup charges.

Brazilian prosecutors say he sought to overturn the 2022 vote, dismantle courts and hand special powers to the military. And, in perhaps the most damning accusation, the police say the conspiracy included a plot to assassinate Mr. Lula and Justice Moraes.

Mr. Bolsonaro denies knowledge of an assassination plan, but admits to studying “ways within the Constitution” to hold onto power after the election.

After Mr. Bolsonaro left office, thousands of his supporters ransacked government buildings in Brazil’s capital, in an episode that echoed the Jan. 6, 2021, riots on the U.S. Capitol.

Mr. Bolsonaro has suggested that immunity from prosecution, for him and his allies, is the path to an economic truce with the United States. Lawmakers aligned with Mr. Bolsonaro are pushing for an amnesty bill, though Mr. Lula is likely to veto it.

The U.S. measures are a major win for Mr. Bolsonaro, who could face decades in prison if he is found guilty.

For months, Eduardo Bolsonaro, the former president’s son, has been lobbying the White House to apply sanctions against Justice Moraes and other judges, arguing that Brazil’s Supreme Court is unfairly targeting his father and other right-wing voices.

“Today is a historic day,” Eduardo Bolsonaro said in a statement, thanking Mr. Trump and Mr. Rubio for the “courage” to apply sanctions against Justice Moraes. “I will be eternally grateful to them for this act.”

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