Economy Now Trump is putting tariffs on Brazil because they were mean to Bolsonaro

[HOLA]

• President Donald Trump said the U.S. will impose a 50% tariff on imports from Brazil starting Aug. 1.
• The massive new trade levy is partly in retaliation for the ongoing prosecution of the country’s former president, Jair Bolsonaro, Trump wrote in a letter.
• The tariff is also in response to the “unfair trade relationship” between the two countries, Trump wrote — though the U.S. has a trade goods surplus with Brazil.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/07/09/trump-brazil-tariffs-bolsonaro.html?taid=686ed24c0f347d0001f8ee5d&utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_content=main&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

 

[HOLA]

Trump claimed that Brazil’s trade policies have caused “unsustainable Trade Deficits against the United States,” which threaten the U.S. economy and national security.

But the U.S. has a goods trade surplus with Brazil, which totaled $7.4 billion in 2024, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

.....

lol

 

[TheMoa]

dude lost the reelection, tried a coup and failed. There was actually a plan involving parts of the military to kill the current president and reinstall him. He was also running the ABIN (like the brazilian NSA/CIA) to monitor and investigate political enemies, police investigators, federal judges and journalists. Some allies of him actually back channeled with the Biden administration if they would support the new goverment (they didn't)

Even with all that, there's already a movement in congress to amnesty the people involved even though the trial is ongoing. Difference here is that Bolsonaro lost most of his popular support, otherwise the amnesty would be already in place (current government doesnt have majority). Like all politicians that dont do shit, he put all his kids on public office (4). Earlier this year one of his kids took license from congress and moved to Dallas to avoid his prosecution here and lobbie for his family cause there (he was friends with Steve Bannon and his movement). Apparently the lobbie has been working.

Now... the 50% tariffs are BS and will have a negative impact here. The current goverment is impopular and the economic impact could weaken them even more. But I think it'll backfire for the Bolsonaros since:
1 - Brazil is a multi party system, so there's a lot of people who doesnt like the current goverment (and want Lula jailed too) that also believe that Bolsonaro should be in jail. So the tariffs can be framed as the Bolsonaro's trying to save themselves while fucking the country over.
2 - One of his strongest support bases here are the agro-exporters, who should be heavly impacted by this.

Hopefully the pressure actually makes the judges go harsher on the people involved (recently they were trending to go softer).
So in some backwards way it may be good?
I mean, if it means no PT and no Bolsonaros in power (I've been hearing they want to put foward his wife as candidate because he has heavy support from evangelicals) I'll take it.

 

[Corona]

Bozonaro about to suggest goatnald for the Nobel piece prize imo

 

[Rod1]

dude lost the reelection, tried a coup and failed. There was actually a plan involving parts of the military to kill the current president and reinstall him. He was also running the ABIN (like the brazilian NSA/CIA) to monitor and investigate political enemies, police investigators, federal judges and journalists. Some allies of him actually back channeled with the Biden administration if they would support the new goverment (they didn't)

Even with all that, there's already a movement in congress to amnesty the people involved even though the trial is ongoing. Difference here is that Bolsonaro lost most of his popular support, otherwise the amnesty would be already in place (current government doesnt have majority). Like all politicians that dont do shit, he put all his kids on public office (4). Earlier this year one of his kids took license from congress and moved to Dallas to avoid his prosecution here and lobbie for his family cause there (he was friends with Steve Bannon and his movement). Apparently the lobbie has been working.

Now... the 50% tariffs are BS and will have a negative impact here. The current goverment is impopular and the economic impact could weaken them even more. But I think it'll backfire for the Bolsonaros since:
1 - Brazil is a multi party system, so there's a lot of people who doesnt like the current goverment (and want Lula jailed too) that also believe that Bolsonaro should be in jail. So the tariffs can be framed as the Bolsonaro's trying to save themselves while fucking the country over.
2 - One of his strongest support bases here are the agro-exporters, who should be heavly impacted by this.

Hopefully the pressure actually makes the judges go harsher on the people involved (recently they were trending to go softer).
So in some backwards way it may be good?
I mean, if it means no PT and no Bolsonaros in power (I've been hearing they want to put foward his wife as candidate because he has heavy support from evangelicals) I'll take it.

No wonder Trump loves him, he is just Trump region 4

 

[Chad R. Thundercock]

Well, shit.

They shouldn't have been mean to him in the first place, then.

It's fucking common sense. Use it.

 

[nixkid]

dude lost the reelection, tried a coup and failed. There was actually a plan involving parts of the military to kill the current president and reinstall him. He was also running the ABIN (like the brazilian NSA/CIA) to monitor and investigate political enemies, police investigators, federal judges and journalists. Some allies of him actually back channeled with the Biden administration if they would support the new goverment (they didn't)

Even with all that, there's already a movement in congress to amnesty the people involved even though the trial is ongoing. Difference here is that Bolsonaro lost most of his popular support, otherwise the amnesty would be already in place (current government doesnt have majority). Like all politicians that dont do shit, he put all his kids on public office (4). Earlier this year one of his kids took license from congress and moved to Dallas to avoid his prosecution here and lobbie for his family cause there (he was friends with Steve Bannon and his movement). Apparently the lobbie has been working.

Now... the 50% tariffs are BS and will have a negative impact here. The current goverment is impopular and the economic impact could weaken them even more. But I think it'll backfire for the Bolsonaros since:
1 - Brazil is a multi party system, so there's a lot of people who doesnt like the current goverment (and want Lula jailed too) that also believe that Bolsonaro should be in jail. So the tariffs can be framed as the Bolsonaro's trying to save themselves while fucking the country over.
2 - One of his strongest support bases here are the agro-exporters, who should be heavly impacted by this.

Hopefully the pressure actually makes the judges go harsher on the people involved (recently they were trending to go softer).
So in some backwards way it may be good?
I mean, if it means no PT and no Bolsonaros in power (I've been hearing they want to put foward his wife as candidate because he has heavy support from evangelicals) I'll take it.

Trump doesn't see anything wrong with trying to steal an election. That's right up his alley.

 

[San Marino]

Lula!
Has the guy learned how to read and write yet?
Got to love Brazilians. The second time they elect this guy after he went to prison for money laundering and corruption.
A corrupt culture that keeps the country from evolving into a superpower. Same for all of Latin America. I spent years living and working in Brazil.

 

[TheMoa]

Lula!
Has the guy learned how to read and write yet?
Got to love Brazilians. The second time they elect this guy after he went to prison for money laundering and corruption.
A corrupt culture that keeps the country from evolving into a superpower. Same for all of Latin America. I spent years living and working in Brazil.

Problem is that they rushed his trial, the judge and every prosecutor went to politics after. They were trying to make their names instead of properly combating corruption. Dude should never been allowed to be a candidate again, he only won because Bolsonaro was even worse.

That being said.. it's always the same in latin america, when the left is in power they steal from the public companies like crazy and when the right get in power they sell them off for cheap money in their pockets "let's be a superpower of soy beans and ground beef".

 

[HOLA]

Difference here is that Bolsonaro lost most of his popular support, otherwise the amnesty would be already in place (current government doesnt have majority).

They also barred Brazilian Trump from office (at least until 2030 iirc) and his coup trial, which could land him in prison, has started. Multiple accomplishments that point to Brazil being smarter than The U.S., which must really infuriate Trump.

 

[Cuauhtemoc]

99% sure that has little to do with Bolsonaro. It's due to the BRICS summit in Rio. Trump is trying to blackmail Brazil into leaving BRICS as it opposes American and US Dollar hegemony.
The problem for him is that it's not the 1950s anymore, Brazil exports to the US amount to around 2% of Brazil GDP, China is more than double that. So, even if tariffs ended all trade to the US and no other country picked up the slack it would be a very small dent, equivalent to an 1 year growth or so.

 

[jk7707]

Trump claimed that Brazil’s trade policies have caused “unsustainable Trade Deficits against the United States,” which threaten the U.S. economy and national security.

But the U.S. has a goods trade surplus with Brazil, which totaled $7.4 billion in 2024, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

.....

lol

That's his standard line. 100% chance he just assumed it was true in this case too to try to justify it.

 

[Beechwood]

Trump has tended to use high tariffs as a bargaining chip. Will be interesting to see if Brazil's leaders follow the typical path and look to negotiate with Trump or not. I keep reading that Americans buys more goods from Brazil than Brazil buys from America.

 

[Possum Jenkins]

99% sure that has little to do with Bolsonaro. It's due to the BRICS summit in Rio. Trump is trying to blackmail Brazil into leaving BRICS as it opposes American and US Dollar hegemony.
The problem for him is that it's not the 1950s anymore, Brazil exports to the US amount to around 2% of Brazil GDP, China is more than double that. So, even if tariffs ended all trade to the US and no other country picked up the slack it would be a very small dent, equivalent to an 1 year growth or so.

This sounds about right

 

[Rational Poster]

Trump has tended to use high tariffs as a bargaining chip. Will be interesting to see if Brazil's leaders follow the typical path and look to negotiate with Trump or not. I keep reading that Americans buys more goods from Brazil than Brazil buys from America.

Where have you read this? All the fan fiction forums you copy paste your usual garbage from?

In reality it's the opposite, Brazil buys more US goods than we buy from them. 2024 the US had a $7B surplus with Brazil.

 

[BlankaPresident]

Lula is trash but I loved his response.

All this is bad for both countries but I wish we over reciprocated at 51% tariffs just to one up Trump and see the orange meltdown lol

 

[BlankaPresident]

Will be interesting to see if Brazil's leaders follow the typical path and look to negotiate with Trump or not.

This is not economics or diplomacy, just straight up extortion. There is nothing to negotiate.

 

[TheMoa]

from the Brazilian side of things apparently there was real negotiations happening about a trade deal and Trump's letter with 50% tariffs blindsided everyone.

but hey, better be blindsided by tariffs on negotiations than be blindsided by the IDF killing negotiators. That's a positive, I guess

 

[Scheme]

99% sure that has little to do with Bolsonaro. It's due to the BRICS summit in Rio. Trump is trying to blackmail Brazil into leaving BRICS as it opposes American and US Dollar hegemony.
The problem for him is that it's not the 1950s anymore, Brazil exports to the US amount to around 2% of Brazil GDP, China is more than double that. So, even if tariffs ended all trade to the US and no other country picked up the slack it would be a very small dent, equivalent to an 1 year growth or so.

China (and a lot of the BRICS countries) aren't a surefire bet in the future. They are facing a lot of economic problems, multiple bubbles bursting (or close to bursting), massive debt issues, demographic challenges, etc. And if there isn't a deal with between China and the US then China's spending power will also be impacted. There's a huge risk if a country like Brazil is going to rely on China to pick up the slack on it's exports.

BRICS does worry me but I think they are mostly united by a common enemy right now (the Western globalist order). Once their interests conflict I believe the BRICS coalition will face serious challenges. There already are major issues between the big players in BRICS, like border/resource conflicts between China and India/Russia.

 

[CantCucktheTuck]

reddit bros fall for it every time.