USA announces 50% tariffs on Brazil

[criptoevangelista]

I'm not sure if you’ve been following the news, but President Donald Trump has just announced 50% tariffs on Brazil. Some say it's politically motivated retaliation, while others believe it's a way to economically target a country that, under its current government, has been favoring dictatorships and communists, attacking freedom of expression, and going after American companies, especially those in the tech sector. So, what do you think about this?

(Click on the image to view full size)

[Charles-Tim]

Some say it's politically motivated retaliation, while others believe it's a way to economically target a country that, under its current government, has been favoring dictatorships and communists, attacking freedom of expression, and going after American companies, especially those in the tech sector. So, what do you think about this?

Brazil is not a dictatorship country but the country is part of BRICS, so United States will be referring to Brazil getting closer to countries like China, Russia and Iran which are part of BRICS countries. Trump is doing this after the BRICS summit which was just held last week in Brazil. I think United States does not need to be hostile Brazil like this.

[peter0425]

I'm not sure if you’ve been following the news, but President Donald Trump has just announced 50% tariffs on Brazil. Some say it's politically motivated retaliation, while others believe it's a way to economically target a country that, under its current government, has been favoring dictatorships and communists, attacking freedom of expression, and going after American companies, especially those in the tech sector. So, what do you think about this?

I think the tariffs is a political move in its entirety. It is basically, if you are an ally of Trump then you get a small percentage but if Trump hates you then you get a huge amount of percentage. There will be some economic consequences but Trump thinks that USA can handle these countries pulling back.

[avikz]

Trump is showing all signs of a mad man. Probably he has lost his mental stability after the success of BRICS. So Brazil is obviously a target which is closer to US. Trump is doing everything possible that will eventually isolate US in coming days. I am very happy about it because one country should not become so powerful that can dictate the actions of other countries.

US citizens need to prepare for another election soon. This Trump fellow needs to be thrown out of the throne he doesn't deserve!

[asriloni]

To say Trump's tariff to the Brazil caused by economic reason is a complete non sense. In fact, US recorded surplus trade against Brazil. I think the main reasons are two, the first is BRICS, and the second is Bolsonaro.

However, Brazil taxed everything. They taxed foreign tech so high like almost 100%, which is so crazy.

[Unknown Op]

Brazil is trying to be economic power and they are trying to do trade with big countries like USA , Russia , China and India. We are watching the Donald trump steps, he is trying to destroy countries who are part of BRICS . Brazil is leader of BRICS And America is doing attack on that country by applying tarrif and after in this country, there will be inflation and that could cause shortage of dollars in that country. Dollar value will go up which is aim of Donald J trump, he will make strong USA by applying tarrif on big countries. USA also applied tarrif on China and India and that countries are facing inflation and after they are doing trade with local currencies in the BRICS.

[o48o]

I'm not sure if you’ve been following the news, but President Donald Trump has just announced 50% tariffs on Brazil. Some say it's politically motivated retaliation, while others believe it's a way to economically target a country that, under its current government, has been favoring dictatorships and communists, attacking freedom of expression, and going after American companies, especially those in the tech sector. So, what do you think about this?
-cut-

So, how that what you described as a reason wouldn't be a political motivated retalation? What do they think political means?

Funny enough Trump is the one who wants to control the market prices and looks up to dictators as a wannabe dictator. If Biden would have done even fraction of that Magas would say that he is a faschist and communist dictator.

Imho trump just acts on the things that he has heard just while ago, before fact checking any of them. And he seems to repeat rumors and lies and use them as a reason. So i don't think there's anything deeper with this either.

[BIT-BENDER]

I missed this one but I did not miss the ugly letter Donald Trump sent to Canada threatening up to 35% tariff.
This tariff issue has lingard on for a while and I have come to understand that Donald Trump use this tariff law to get iter country to try as much as possible to do what he wants.
He hardly go ahead with this crazy tariff and if he does it actually doesn't last for too long.

[Fortify]

Donald Trump has been out of the news for ten minutes so this is his next round of stupidity so he can take center stage again. It's impossible to believe a single word that comes out of his mouth because he changes his mind so often and is easily influenced by others. The endless stream of garbage he posts on his social media platforms are like the writings of someone going senile and deranged. It is Americans who are suffering the most, both by being humiliated on the world stage by this buffoon constantly backtracking after losing, paying these taxes in the form of tariffs, seeing the buying power of the dollar diminish and overall having their economic prowess destroyed because no business can plan in that climate.

If I was Brazil I wouldn't worry and just stand up to the bully.

[el kaka22]

I am pretty sure this is regards to BRICS and not about communists or how Brazil is governed. I get that it may not be the best nation politically, but USA didn't do anything about it, all the way until BRICS and now they are retaliating for what BRICS İs doing.

He already did this with Russia and China, now he is aiming at Brazil, and could even increase it more in the future. Dude knows that going to a war with any nation is costly and dangers his position, but making economical warfare is free for him and he is allowed to do. So instead of actually fighting, he is just increasing tariffs on whoever he wants, makes more sense to him and easier to handle the paperwork too, he doesn't get that much backlash because of it neither.

[AmoreJaz]

To say Trump's tariff to the Brazil caused by economic reason is a complete non sense. In fact, US recorded surplus trade against Brazil. I think the main reasons are two, the first is BRICS, and the second is Bolsonaro.

However, Brazil taxed everything. They taxed foreign tech so high like almost 100%, which is so crazy.

So in this case, it is reasonable that US will do the same to them. This is business and so if they can't accept such regulation, they can do other business with the rest of the world but not US. However, we all know that they do need the US market. And if it is indeed unreasonable, they will rally and won't permit that trade will happen. But if they do need the US market, they will just comply even if it is against their will. This is international trading per se, so they know already how to win in the situation even if they are receiving high percentage of tariffs.

[alani123]

Who's gonna pay for the tariffs? Of course the end consumer will.

Companies won't want to lose profits if tariffs are implemented.
And speaking of EUs example, we've had a more exclusive list of tariffs for longer her.

You know what happened? The Chinese bought our ports and keep controlling imports. They label their own imports as miniscule items and end up paying close to zero tariffs. It's even more worth it to bribe officials for millions instead of actually paying
 They even have multiple alternatives. Athens was a large import hub, but they also have contacts in France, Germany, Poland...

Recently the Athens operation was busted. Will the EU strike closer to home and also bust the operations in Germany? By the time they do so the operation in Athens opens back up. Tariffs work but who pays for them under capitalism is a different story. And I don't think the US can really afford tariffs against Brazil due to all the trade between the two. Probably it's just a pressure tactic against big companies to open some factories in the US. Classic Trump tactic by now. Both sides are bluffing.

[Zaguru12]

Brazil is not a dictatorship country but the country is part of BRICS, so United States will be referring to Brazil getting closer to countries like China, Russia and Iran which are part of BRICS countries. Trump is doing this after the BRICS summit which was just held last week in Brazil. I think United States does not need to be hostile Brazil like this.

There was actually a news by Trump that any country that sides with BRICS will be imposed an additional 10% of the initial tariff and we all know that Brazil has long been a member of BRICS. So my question is does this 10% means that other countries to be imposed the tariff will get maybe 40% slammed on them or this 50% doesn’t includes the BRICS extra penalties,

Personally I think this Trump government is actually pushing too hard for this BRICs not to have stability because they already looks  like they are after dedollarization which is the major reason why I think Trump is doing this. The implication is that the country will also faces its own tariff increases of product because every country been hit will most likely respond this way

[Coyster]

It has not been implemented yet, and Brazil has also responded that they would retaliate with tariffs as high as 50% on the U.S. if Trump follows through with his latest threat.

That said, Brazil is a sovereign country, and if the authorities believe that Jair Bolsonaro has committed serious crimes, then it is the court that should decide or prove otherwise and not for Trump to interfere with threat of high tariffs; that is a crazy way to try and resolve a supposed problem and it is basically just bullying which no sovereign country should tolerate.

[STT]

Brazil is massive growth country so this is a sad loss either way to potential trade compartitive advantages for both countries.  Brazil is literally the B in Brics which might draw sympathy from other developing countries an opposition to such bully tactics, might well be the overall international perception.

   I think these tariffs in this case are all because BYD is basing their operations there and this competition is feared though its a long way to really fear cross border imports?

[Darker45]

On the contrary, I think Bolsonaro belongs to the far-right. He's against communism, socialism, leftists, and the like. He's in favor of privatization, deregulation, and so on. So, this isn't about his ideologies and principles. 

Others are saying it's because Brazil is a member of BRICS. Maybe, but I don't think this is the main reason. After all, Trump is waging this tariff war against everybody else, allies and enemies alike. He's doing it against Canada and his allies in Europe. He's even doing it against my own tiny country which has been loyally li*king Uncle Sam's bal*s for centuries.

[X-ray]

I believe it has nothing to do with all that you mentioned though.

It's just simply because brazil is part of BRICS and they're trying to reduce dollar dominance by possibly creating their own currency or doing trades using their own currency.

Any BRICS country will definitely face tariff at some point, the severity also depends on the trade deficit I believe. However I'm not even sure how the number comes up.

[adaseb]

He also gave Canada 35% tariffs also. And last week he went on a long rant about how that Digital Tax of 3.5% wasn't fair to US companies and the Canadian government removed that tax, and what did it do? Absolutely nothing he gave the 35% tariff anyways.

In my opinion, when August 1st arrives, I think he will postpone all of these tariffs or lower them. There is no way these are going to stick. He has been promising tariffs since January pretty much and keeps going back and forth. Any type of tariff that is larger than 10% is just way too large, whether its 25% or 35% or 50%, these tariffs are crazy and won't last long.

[AirtelBuzz]

I'm not sure if you’ve been following the news, but President Donald Trump has just announced 50% tariffs on Brazil. Some say it's politically motivated retaliation, while others believe it's a way to economically target a country that, under its current government, has been favoring dictatorships and communists, attacking freedom of expression, and going after American companies, especially those in the tech sector. So, what do you think about this?

I think the tariffs is a political move in its entirety. It is basically, if you are an ally of Trump then you get a small percentage but if Trump hates you then you get a huge amount of percentage. There will be some economic consequences but Trump thinks that USA can handle these countries pulling back.

You are right that if the country mentioned here were an ally of Trump, they would receive a small portion of the tariffs. Currently the US President has imposed this measure against all countries included in the BRICS even the two reasons I know for the current tariff increase in Brazil are that first of all they include BRICS and referring to the criminal allegations against Bolsonar he threatened Brazil, my idea his biased decisions are very disgusting. But when America imposed excessive tariffs on them, the Brazilian president stated that they would not accept any kind of tutelage. Looking at Trump's actions at the moment, we can understand that he does not want to keep the economies of the BRICS countries afloat.

[Iranus]

To say Trump's tariff to the Brazil caused by economic reason is a complete non sense. In fact, US recorded surplus trade against Brazil. I think the main reasons are two, the first is BRICS, and the second is Bolsonaro.

However, Brazil taxed everything. They taxed foreign tech so high like almost 100%, which is so crazy.

The United States has a trade surplus with Brazil of $7.4 billion in 2024, so it is clear that the tariffs Trump imposed were purely political, not due to the trade deficit as Trump claimed.

I agree with you, BRICS and Bolsonaro are the reason Trump put 50% tariff on Brazil.

However, we all know that they do need the US market.

That is not entirely true. The US is only Brazil's second largest export market, China is Brazil's largest trading partner. Of which, total export turnover to the US is 56 billion USD and vice versa, the US exports to Brazil is 63 billion USD. It can be seen that both are dependent on each other and need each other. That's why Brazil isn't afraid to take on Trump in the tariff war.