As he threatened he would do, U.S. President Donald Trump issued an Executive Order (EO) yesterday imposing 50% tariffs on Brazilian imports as punishment for what he claimed is the persecution of his friend, former President Jair Bolsonaro. Trump said the EO was necessary “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 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.” The top of the EO blares in all caps, that the U.S. President is addressing a “NATIONAL EMERGENCY.”
Interestingly, however, instead of imposing the tariffs on Aug. 1, as originally threatened, these will now go into effect on Aug.6. And, the large number of products exempted from the tariffs, approximately 700, lessened the tariffs’ impact. President Lula da Silva has been unrelenting in the face of Trump’s threats, refusing to give in to his outrageous demands that prosecution of Bolsonaro for coup plotting “cease immediately,” and making clear that Brazilian sovereignty is not negotiable.
As Bloomberg argued today,, Lula’s “defiance” of Trump—his refusal to bend to Trump’s demands—paid off. Lula felt sufficiently confident to state at an event at the presidential palace that “today is a sacred day for sovereignty.” He and other of his cabinet members have stated repeatedly they are open to negotiating with the U.S., and he is for the moment cautious about taking retaliatory measures.
