Brazil calls Trump’s 25% tariff unjustifiable, vows to impose reciprocal tariffs

The Brazilian government has criticized a new U.S. tariff on certain Brazilian imports and says it plans to impose reciprocal tariffs

RIO DE JANEIRO -- The Brazilian government has decried the latest U.S. tariff on certain Brazilian imports and threatened to impose reciprocal tariffs against U.S. products.

The United States on Wednesday said it would impose a new 25% tariff on certain imports from Brazil, citing unfair trade practices by the world’s 10th-biggest economy.

In a statement late Wednesday, the office of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva refuted the U.S. allegations of unfair trade practices. It said 76% of imports from the United States entered Brazil duty-free in 2025, and said the average tariff effectively applied to U.S. products was only 3.1%.

It said it has taken steps to impose reciprocal tariffs, along with other trade-related countermeasures.

“Brazil will immediately begin the procedures necessary to invoke the mechanisms provided for under the reciprocity law ... and will also pursue the matter through the World Trade Organization’s dispute settlement mechanism,” it said, referencing a mechanism that allows it to respond with countermeasures.

The United States has for years run a massive trade deficit with the rest of the world, and Trump has cited the lopsided trade numbers to justify his aggressive use of tariffs.

But Brazilian imports make an unusual target: The U.S. has persistently piled up trade surpluses with Brazil. Last year, in fact, U.S. exports to Brazil exceeded imports by nearly $42 billion; only the United States’ trade surpluses with the Netherlands and the United Kingdom were higher.

The new tariff puts pressure on national exports and increases insecurity for companies in both countries, Brazil’s National Confederation of Industry said in a statement Thursday.

The Trump administration first imposed a 50% tariff on Brazilian imports last July. He cited what he called a “witch hunt” against former President Jair Bolsonaro. Trump's ally was on trial at the time for attempting a coup despite his 2022 electoral defeat to Lula and was later convicted. Some of those tariffs were later rescinded.

U.S. President Donald Trump at the time also accused Brazil of unfair trade practices and said he had directed U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer to initiate an investigation under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974.

That led the office to charge Brazil with lax anti-corruption enforcement and unfair tariffs, among other things, in June.

Lula pointedly referenced that history late Wednesday, blaming the lates