Background The US has run trade surpluses with Brazil since 2007, reaching $253 million in 2024. Nonetheless, Trump criticized the country for as a "tremendous tariff maker" and pledged tariffs on its exports. Brazilian president
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva vowed to reciprocate. However, following Trump's 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum, Brazilian Institutional Affairs Minister
Alexandre Padilha stated that Brazil would not retaliate. On April 2, 2025, Trump imposed the base 10% tariff on Brazil. Brazilian aircraft manufactuere
Embraer voiced worries over rising complexity and costs. Brazilian coffee producers initially were saw an opportunity because of higher tariffs on competitors such as Vietnam, which would make their rivals less competitive. In April 2025, the
Brazilian National Congress passed a "Trade Reciprocity Law", enabling the government to respond to unilateral trade measures. By May 2025, according to
Finance Minister Fernando Haddad, Brazil and the US were negotiating the terms of an understanding on tariffs.
Tariff dispute In a letter to Brazil on July 9, 2025, Trump threatened a 50% tariff while denouncing charges against
Jair Bolsonaro, an ally facing trial for the
2022 Brazilian coup plot. On July 30, Trump declared Brazil’s actions a US "national emergency" and imposed an additional 40% tariff on top of a 10% baseline tariff, for a total tariff rate of 50%. The order exempted several Brazilian exports, notably airplanes, aeronautical components, iron ore, aluminum, natural gas, orange juice, fertilizers, petroleum and lumber. Other main Brazilian exports were not exempted.
Nobelist Paul Krugman criticized the tariff, stating that the tariff was reason enough to impeach the president. Fellow Nobelist
Joseph Stiglitz stated that Brazilian president
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, by refusing to submit to US intimidation, had "defended his country's sovereignty" in trade and in the regulation of
American-controlled tech platforms. In the aftermath of the announcement, Brazilians adopted the phrase
Trump Always Chickens Out (TACO) to mock the American president; the acronym became one of the seven most-used terms on
X that week. In August 2025, China authorized 183 Brazilian companies to export coffee under a five-year agreement, aiming to boost imports amid rising domestic demand. The move followed the US imposition of a 50% coffee tariff covering about 30% of US imports. Prices rose sharply for American roasters. The China market was not expected to fully replace US demand. Faced with the tariffs, Lula attempted to diversify Brazil’s international partnerships and strengthening
BRICS. In November 2025, Trump signed Executive Order 14361, "Modifying the Scope of Tariffs on the Government of Brazil", which exempts coffee, beef and certain other agricultural imports from the 40% tariff on imports from Brazil. On November 24, 2025,
The New York Times published an article stating that "Brazil defied Trump and won", and that, five months after Trump's "furious letter", the American president "had pretty much admitted defeat" when he merely called the arrest of Jair Bolsonaro "a pity". The piece also argued that Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva came out of the episode "politically stronger" than when he entered. == See also ==