Washington D.C., July 16, 2025 – The United States has plunged into a contentious new chapter of its global trade strategy, with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer announcing a Section 301 investigation into Brazil’s “unfair” trading practices. This move comes just a week after President Donald Trump threatened an unprecedented 50% tariff on imports from Latin America’s largest economy, a rate significantly higher than initially proposed and conspicuously linked to the ongoing trial of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
President Trump, now in his second term which commenced in January, has continued to assert an aggressive trade agenda, imposing tariffs on numerous U.S. trading partners in a declared effort to reorder the global economy and eliminate what he terms “discrimination against the United States.” The USTR investigation, directed by President Trump, will delve into Brazil’s treatment of digital trade and preferential tariffs, among other issues, to determine if they are “unreasonable or discriminatory and burdens or restrict” U.S. commerce.
Ambassador Greer stated, “At President Trump’s direction, I am launching a Section 301 investigation into Brazil’s attacks,” citing U.S. social media companies, workers, farmers, and technology innovators as victims harmed by Brazil’s “unfair trading practices.” He emphasized that “extensive consultations” had led him to conclude that “Brazil’s tariff and non-tariff barriers merit a thorough investigation, and potentially, responsive action.”
However, the timing and justification for the steep 50% tariff on Brazilian imports, set to begin August 1st, have ignited a firestorm of criticism. President Trump explicitly tied the elevated tariff rate to a demand for an end to the trial of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is accused of plotting a coup. This direct link between trade policy and a foreign nation’s domestic judicial proceedings has surprised many trade experts. Brazil typically runs a trade surplus with the U.S. in goods, further questioning the economic rationale behind such a drastic tariff increase from a purely national interest standpoint.
The overt attempt to influence Brazil’s internal legal system has deeply undermined the stated pretense that the tariff policy is solely for the national interest of the U.S. While the use of political methods to achieve economic goals and protect American livelihoods might be met with less resistance, the apparent adoption of this tariff policy for overtly political purposes, specifically to interfere in a judicial process, risks exposing the entire trade strategy as arbitrary and “completely ridiculous.” This move by the Trump administration sets a troubling precedent, blurring the lines between economic policy and foreign political intervention, and is likely to further complicate already strained international trade relations.
US launches probe into Brazil’s trade practices, digital payment services
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