Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Addresses Threats to the United States from the Government of Brazil

July 31, 2025

Print This Article Share it With Friends

(White House) ADDRESSING A NATIONAL EMERGENCY: Today (July 30, 2025), President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order implementing an additional 40% tariff on Brazil, bringing the total tariff amount to 50%, to deal with recent policies, practices, and actions by the Government of Brazil that constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States.

The Order declares a new national emergency using the President’s authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 (IEEPA) and establishes an additional 40% tariff to address the Government of Brazil’s unusual and extraordinary policies and actions harming U.S. companies, the free speech rights of U.S. persons, U.S. foreign policy, and the U.S. economy.
The Order finds that the Government of Brazil’s politically motivated persecution, intimidation, harassment, censorship, and prosecution of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and thousands of his supporters are serious human rights abuses that have undermined the rule of law in Brazil.

USING LEVERAGE TO SAFEGUARD OUR INTERESTS: President Trump has consistently reaffirmed his commitment to defending the United States’ national security, foreign policy, and economy against foreign threats, including by safeguarding free speech, protecting U.S. companies from unlawful censorship coercion, and holding human rights abusers accountable for their lawless behavior.

Recently, members of the Government of Brazil have taken unprecedented actions to tyrannically and arbitrarily coerce U.S. companies to censor political speech, deplatform users, turn over sensitive U.S. user data, or change their content moderation policies on pain of extraordinary fines, criminal prosecution, asset freezes, or complete exclusion from the Brazilian market. This undermines not only the viability of U.S. companies’ business operations in Brazil but also the policy of the United States in promoting free and fair elections and safeguarding fundamental human rights at home and abroad.
For example, since 2019, Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes has abused his judicial authority to threaten, target, and intimidate thousands of his political opponents, shield corrupt allies, and suppress dissent, often in coordination with other Brazilian officials, including other justices on Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court, to the detriment of U.S. companies operating in Brazil.
- Justice de Moraes has unilaterally issued hundreds of orders to secretly censor his political critics. When U.S. companies have refused to comply with these orders, he imposed substantial fines, ordered the companies’ exclusion from Brazil’s social media market, threatened their executives with criminal prosecution, and, in one case, froze the assets of a U.S. company in Brazil in an effort to coerce compliance.
- In fact, in addition to jailing individuals without trial for social media posts, Justice de Moraes is currently overseeing the Government of Brazil’s criminal prosecution of Paulo Figueiredo, a U.S. resident, for speech he made on U.S. soil, and has supported criminal investigations into other U.S. persons after they exposed his gross violations of human rights and corruption.
President Trump is defending American companies from extortion, protecting American persons from political persecution, safeguarding American free speech from censorship, and saving the American economy from being subject to the arbitrary edicts of a tyrannical foreign judge.

PUTTING AMERICA FIRST: By imposing these tariffs to address the Government of Brazil’s reckless actions, President Trump is protecting the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States from a foreign threat. In line with his election mandate, President Trump has also taken other actions to achieve peace through strength and ensure foreign policy reflects U.S. values, sovereignty, and security.

On Day One, President Trump signed an “America First Policy Directive” to the Secretary of State that declared that the United States’ foreign policy must always put the interests of America and its citizens first.
Consistent with this directive, on May 28, 2025, Secretary Rubio announced a visa restriction policy targeting foreign nationals responsible for the censorship of protected expression in the United States.
Pursuant to that policy, on July 18, President Trump directed Secretary Rubio to revoke visas belonging to Justice de Moraes, his allies on the Court, and their immediate family members for their role in enabling Justice de Moraes’ human rights violations against Brazilians and free speech violations against Americans.
Preserving and protecting the free speech rights of all Americans and defending American companies from coerced censorship will remain at the forefront of President Trump’s America First foreign policy strategy.
President Trump has successfully used tariffs in the past to advance America’s interests and address other urgent national security threats and is doing so again today. READ MORE

Related articles

ADDRESSING THREATS TO THE UNITED STATES BY THE GOVERNMENT OF BRAZIL (White House)
Trump puts 50% tariffs on Brazil and copper, eliminates a tax loophole and hints at new deals (CNN)
Trump hits Brazil with tariffs, sanctions but key sectors excluded (Reuters)
Trump signs order to justify 50% tariffs on Brazil (Associated Press)

Excerpt from CNN: The new tariff on Brazil appeared to be spurred by non-economic matters.

Bolsonaro, who has bragged about his closeness with Trump, is facing trial for allegedly attempting to stage a coup against Lula. Trump has publicly objected to that proceeding, and his order alleged Bolsonaro’s prosecution was “politically motivated.”

...

The announcement of the increased tariff rate comes the same day that the United States is sanctioning Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, 12 days after announcing visa restrictions against him and other court officials over Bolsonaro’s trial.

...

However, Trump’s order appears to have more bark than bite. It exempts most of Brazil’s most significant exports to the United States, including orange juice, Embraer aircraft, oil, coal, minerals, various chemicals and Brazil nuts. Coffee, though, will face the higher tariff.

...

“This announcement indicates the copper tariffs are much more limited in nature than the market originally understood,” Rob Haworth, senior investment strategist at U.S. Bank Asset Management, said in an email. READ MORE

Excerpt from Associated Press: Lula left an event about animal rights early on Wednesday after Trump’s move, saying he needed to defend “the sovereignty of the Brazilian people in light of the measures announced by the President of the United States.”

...

The order said the tariffs would go into effect seven days after its signing on Wednesday. READ MORE