Brazil threatened to hit back against Donald Trump’s plan to introduce 50% tariffs on its exports with its own 50% tariff on US goods, setting the stage for a precipitous trade war.
“If he charges us 50%, we’ll charge him 50%,” Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the Brazilian president, told local news outlet Record, a day after Trump threatened to impose steep duties on Brazilian goods and accused the country of conducting a “witch-hunt” against its former president Jair Bolsonaro, who is facing a trial over his attempt to overturn his 2022 election defeat.
Brazil could appeal to the World Trade Organization, propose international investigations and “demand explanations”, Lula suggested. “But the main thing is the Reciprocity Law, passed by Congress,” he told Record, referring to recent legislation designed to defend Latin America’s largest economy from tariff attacks.
Trump’s claim that Brazil’s economic relationship with the US was “far from Reciprocal” was also “inaccurate”, Lula had said in a statement on Wednesday. US tariff hikes “will be addressed” by Brazil, he said.
Early on Thursday, Lula convened Brazilian ministers to discuss how his government should address Trump’s 50% tariff threat. The office of Lula’s chief of staff said a study group would be formed to decide how to react.
Trump has already pledged to retaliate if Brazil retaliates against his attack, with US tariffs due to come into force on 1 August. “If for any reason you decide to raise your Tariffs, then, whatever the number you choose to raise them by, will be added onto the 50% that we charge,” he wrote in a letter to Lula on Wednesday, published on social media.
The threatened tariffs on Brazil are part of a wave of proposed US levies unveiled by Trump this week. While the White House had been scheduled to hike duties on dozens of countries on Wednesday, he ordered a fresh three-week delay to 1 August.
Alongside the latest delay, Trump has written letters to a string of countries, including Bangladesh, Japan and South Korea, informing them of new US tariff rates they will face unless they strike a deal with his administration.
