Donald Trump has slapped a 50% tariff on Brazil over what he called the “witch-hunt” against former president Jair Bolsonaro and demanded that it end immediately.
The US president said the levy on Brazil would be “separate from all sectoral tariffs” as he also targeted seven other countries for steep tariffs and criticised the trial of Bolsonaro, whom he has described as a friend and hosted at his Mar-a-Lago resort.
The US supreme court, meanwhile, denied a request by Florida officials to lift a judge’s order barring them from carrying out arrests of undocumented US immigrants entering the state while a legal challenge plays out.
And the Trump administration has issued sanctions against Francesca Albanese, a UN official investigating abuses in Gaza, in the latest US effort to punish critics of Israel’s war in the territory.
Here are the key US politics stories at a glance:
Trump announces 50% tariff on Brazil, citing ‘witch-hunt’ against Bolsonaro
On Wednesday afternoon, Trump avoided his standard form letter with Brazil, and criticized the trial Jair Bolsonaro is facing over trying to overturn his 2022 election loss. “This Trial should not be taking place,” Trump wrote in the letter posted on Truth Social on Wednesday. “It is a witch hunt that should end IMMEDIATELY!”
Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, rejected Trump’s demand that legal proceedings against Bolsonaro be dropped and his claim that a 50% tariff on Brazilian imports was necessary to close a trade deficit that does not, in fact, exist.
US supreme court blocks Florida from enforcing anti-immigration law
The country’s supreme court has maintained a judicial block on a Republican-crafted Florida law that makes it a crime for undocumented immigrants in the US to enter the state.
The justices on Wednesday denied a request by state officials to lift an order by Florida-based US district judge Kathleen Williams that barred them from carrying out arrests and prosecutions under the law while a legal challenge plays out in lower courts.
Kennedy touts ultra-processed meals he once called ‘poison’
Robert F Kennedy Jr has promoted a company whose meals contain ultra-processed ingredients – which he has repeatedly railed against – on his “Make America healthy again” tour.
The US health secretary appeared at an enormous food plant in Oklahoma for a company called Mom’s Meals, which makes 1.5m “medically tailored” meals each week and ships them all over the country.
US issues sanctions against UN official investigating abuses in Gaza
The Trump administration announced on Wednesday it was issuing sanctions against Francesca Albanese, an independent official tasked with investigating human rights abuses in the Palestinian territories, the latest effort by the US to punish critics of Israel’s 21-month war in Gaza.
US agriculture secretary says Medicaid recipients can replace deported farm workers
The US agriculture secretary has suggested that increased automation and forcing Medicaid recipients to work could replace the migrant farm workers being swept up in Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign, despite years of evidence and policy failures that those kinds of measures are not substitutes for the immigrant labor force underpinning American agriculture.
Trump administration reportedly planning to fire 2,145 Nasa employees
The Trump administration is reportedly planning to cut at least 2,145 high-ranking Nasa employees with specialized skills or management responsibilities.
According to documents obtained by Politico, most employees leaving are in senior-level government ranks, depriving the agency of decades of experience as part of a push to slash the size of the federal government through early retirement, buyouts and deferred resignations.
What else happened today:
War-torn South Sudan has said it is holding a group of eight men controversially deported from the US. Only one of them is from South Sudan. The rest comprise two people from Myanmar, two from Cuba and one each from Vietnam, Laos and Mexico.
The Trump administration has sued California over its policies allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls’ school sports, alleging their participation violates federal anti-discrimination laws.
Catching up? Here’s what happened on 8 July 2025.
