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

July 31, 2025

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(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

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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)
US tariffs may shut Brazil's ethanol import window (Argus Media)
Greer cites ethanol in Brazil Section 301 investigation (Fence Post)
Brazil will not reciprocate US tariffs: Lula (Argus Media)
The judge who refuses to bend to Trump’s will: ‘We’ll do what’s right’: Alexandre de Moraes says he’s preserving Brazilian democracy. The White House says he’s destroying it. (Washington Post)
NCGA says Brazil’s ethanol tariff burdens U.S. commerce (Brownfield Ag News; includes AUDIO)

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.”

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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.

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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.

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“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.”

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

Excerpt from Argus Media: The US' planned 50pc tariff on Brazilian goods will have little effect on the ethanol market, but any Brazilian response to the US could curtail the large volumes of US ethanol Brazil expected to import this crop-year.

US president Donald Trump slapped additional tariffs of 40pc on some products from Brazil, set to start on 6 August. This takes total taxes on Brazilian ethanol to 52.5pc, considering the initial 2.5pc tariff plus the 10pc "Liberation Day" tax imposed in April.

Brazilian market participants do not expect a great impact domestically because Brazil exports little ethanol to the US compared with its output.

Brazil shipped 303,960m³ (5,245 b/d) of ethanol to the US in its latest sugarcane crop period — which lasted from April 2024-March 2025 — according to trade ministry MDIC. That accounts for only 0.8pc of 36.7mn m³ Brazil produced from sugarcane and corn in the period, according to national supply company Conab.

A significant portion of Brazil's ethanol exports to the US are through long-term contracts to supply the US industry. Some US companies involved in the operations get duty drawbacks, a refund on tariffs they paid on imported goods that will be used as feedstocks for making a product that will be exported. In those cases, Trump's 50pc tariffs have little to no effect.

Market participants expect contract volumes in this flow will pull back slightly as of February 2026, since supply contracts through January are already secured.

Most of Brazil's ethanol production is consumed domestically, given the demand from the many flex-fuel vehicles in the country and blend mandates. Internal consumption may increase even further once the new ethanol blending mandate — which will increase the amount of ethanol in gasoline to 30pc from 27pc — comes into force on 1 August.

Brazilian tariffs to rise?

The ethanol industry is now waiting to see if the Brazilian government will tweak its tariff barriers on the US product.

Brazil now charges a 18pc tax on all ethanol imports from outside the Mercosur trading bloc.

If Brazil cuts or zeroes the tariff in a conciliatory move, the arbitrage window may open and result in ethanol imports above the current 400,000-800,000m³ range some market participants expect for the 2025-26 crop.

Most of that volume would be sent to ports in Brazil's northeast, thanks to its proximity to the US and lower freight costs.

But if Brazil retaliates with higher tariffs it could shut the arbitrage window that some importers were hoping to see open as of September.

There is one exception in the market -- one Brazilian biofuel company with sizeable imports gets duty drawback in Brazil. For that firm, tariff tweaks will not change plans of importing ethanol volumes from the US Gulf in this crop. READ MORE

Excerpt from Fence Post: When Trade Representative Jamieson Greer announced a Section 301 investigation of Brazil’s trade practices, he cited “ethanol market access … and illegal deforestation among the practices that place an “unreasonable or discriminatory and burden or restrict U.S. commerce.”

Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended, is designed to address unfair foreign practices affecting U.S. commerce. Section 301 may be used to respond to unjustifiable, unreasonable, or discriminatory foreign government practices that burden or restrict U.S. commerce.

Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor said in a news release, “Today’s action by USTR is a sign that the old days of Brazil enjoying unfettered access to the U.S. ethanol market while unfairly putting a tariff on American ethanol imports could soon come to an end. On behalf of U.S. ethanol producers across the heartland, we say it’s about time. We applaud USTR for taking this concrete step to dig further into Brazil’s unfair treatment of American ethanol and hope that it ultimately leads to a more level playing field for U.S. farmers and biofuel producers.”

Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Geoff Cooper said, “We applaud the Trump administration for this important action. For almost a decade now, we have spent precious time and resources fighting back against an unfair and unjustified tariff regime imposed by Brazil’s government on U.S. ethanol imports. What’s more ironic is that these tariff barriers have been erected against U.S. ethanol imports while our country has openly accepted — and even encouraged and incentivized —ethanol imports from Brazil.”

U.S. Grains Council President and CEO Ryan LeGrand said, “The council is encouraged by the news of the investigation into Brazil that has — for years — placed unfair tariffs on American ethanol imports.”

CNN noted that President Trump launched the Section 301 investigation after threatening to impose a 50% tariff on Brazilian products over issues including the criminal case against its former President Jair Bolsonaro. The United States enjoys a trade surplus with Brazil. READ MORE

Excerpt from Argus Media: Brazil will not impose new reciprocal tariffs on US goods, according to president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, backing down from earlier pledges to counter the US' 50pc tariffs on Brazilian products.

"We are negotiators," Lula said Wednesday after signing a decree to offer a line of credit to small businesses to counter the new US tariffs, which have been in effect since 6 August. "We do not want, at first, to do anything that would worsen our relationship [with the US]."

Previously Lula said reciprocal tariffs could be used against the US, but earlier this year Lula also signed a new economic reciprocity law that spelled out how the country could react to limits on its trade — including provisions to negotiate and avoid actions that would further harm the country.

The US tariffs affect over 35pc of Brazilian products that head to the US, representing 4pc of Brazilian exports, while 700 other products remain under 10pc charges effective since April.

Brazil has a trade deficit for goods and services with the US, adding up to over $400bn over the last 15 years, finance minister Fernando Haddad said in a televised interview in early July. The US' trade surplus with Brazil reached $2.3bn in the first half of 2025, a more than seven-fold increase from a year before, according to US-Brazil chamber of commerce Amcham.

The US is Brazil's second-largest trading partner behind China, receiving $40.3bn worth of exports in 2024, according to the Brazilian secretary of foreign trade.

Brazil is seeking to challenge the US tariffs before the World Trade Organization, saying they "flagrantly violate core commitments made by the US to the WTO, such as the most-favored-nation principle and the negotiated tariff ceilings".

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Brazil will also seek to continue to open markets with other countries, Lula said. It has has been speaking other Brics countries — the informal forum of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — to improve relations among countries affected by the US tariffs, Lula said. The group accounts for around 40pc of the global economy, according to IMF.

Brazil will send at least 500 business representatives to India in January to discuss opportunities in trade, energy, critical minerals and other areas, according to the government.

"Instead of crying over losses, we will seek winning somewhere else," Lula said. "The world is big and is eager to negotiate with Brazil." READ MORE

Excerpt from Brownfield Ag News: The president of the National Corn Growers Association says Brazil’s 18% tariff on U.S. ethanol imports is unreasonable.

Kenneth Hartman Jr. tells Brownfield Brazil was once a top market for U.S. ethanol producers.

“That (tariff) basically was a freefall of us selling ethanol into the Brazilian market. We’re just frustrated with this because obviously we’ve got a big crop coming on here.”

Last month, the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office announced a U.S. Section 301 investigation into Brazil’s trading practices, specifically on ethanol. Hartman says the investigation allows USTR to determine if a foreign country has taken unfair trade actions that burden or restrict U.S. commerce.

“We appreciate President Trump and his diligence to look into unfair practices. This is definitely unfair practice.”

He says NCGA is seeking a fair resolution.

“The resolution I would see is if we’re going to have tariffs, then they need to be tariffs similar for either country. Or, have no tariffs that we can basically sell ethanol into Brazil and they can sell ethanol back.”

U.S. ethanol exports to Brazil have decreased from $761 million in 2018 to $53 million in 2024, according to data from NCGA. READ MORE; includes AUDIO