Trump threatens Brazil with more tariffs if they don't drop charges against his blow buddy Bolsonaro

[Yssup Rider]

Like this is any of America's business.

Just fucking embarrassing.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/09/econo...mp?cid=ios_app

Trump threatens 50% tariffs on Brazil if it doesn’t stop the Bolsonaro ‘witch hunt’ trial

CNN
—
President Donald Trump on Wednesday threatened Brazil with a crippling tariff of 50% starting August 1, according to a letter he sent to the country’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

In the letter posted on Truth Social, Trump alleged Lula is undertaking a “Witch Hunt that should end IMMEDIATELY!” over charges against its right-wing former president, Jair Bolsonaro.

Bolsonaro, who has bragged about his closeness with Trump, is facing trial for allegedly attempting to stage a coup against Lula.

Lula vowed to reciprocate if Trump follows through with his threat.

“Brazil is a sovereign nation with independent institutions and will not accept any form of tutelage,” Lula said in a post on X.

“Any measure to increase tariffs unilaterally will be responded to in light of Brazil’s Law of Economic Reciprocity,” he added.

This marks the first time in months another country has threatened to match Trump’s tariff threat.

Unlike the 21 other countries that have received letters from Trump this week, Brazil was not set to face “reciprocal” tariffs in April. Goods from there have instead been tariffed at a minimum of 10%, which is the rate Trump has been taxing most goods from countries that were set to face “reciprocal” tariffs.


And unlike the other 21 countries, the US ran a $6.8 billion trade surplus with Brazil last year, meaning the US exported more goods to there than it imported from there. That means Brazil’s 50% tariff on American goods could severely harm domestic businesses that rely on exporting goods there.

This is not the first time Trump has used the threat of tariffs to try to change other countries’ domestic policy decisions.

Earlier this year, he threatened 25% tariffs on Colombian exports that would grow to 50% if the country didn’t accept deportees from the US. (Colombia ultimately accepted the deportees and avoided those tariffs.) Trump also imposed tariffs on goods from Mexico, Canada and China over the role he alleges they play in facilitating illegal migration to the US and enabling fentanyl to reach the country.

[Lucas McCain]

The silly bullshit just never ends with our Benjamin Buttons geriatric leader. Can someone give that old fucker some melatonin or one of the many other available sleep aids so his ass will just sleep and stay off social media when he is bored?

[Tiny]

That’s called shooting your nose off to spite your face. The USA has a trade surplus with Brazil, as noted in Yssup’s article. And Brazil’s in a position to put the screws to companies like Facebook, Google, etc.

Trade is not a zero sum game. But if it were, why would you start a trade war with a country that buys more from you than you buy from it?

[Yssup Rider]

Why would any POTUS directly meddle in the court and legislature of a foreign country?

With blackmail ?

And an ally no less?

He’s a fucking lunatic.

[txdot-guy]

I am not sure that using tariffs in this way is actually legal. The President has wide discretion over tariffs but I don’t see how interfering in another country’s internal politics is one of the ways that is legally permitted.

If he follows through with the tariffs expect a lawsuit challenging the legality of Trump’s order.

https://archive.ph/ZBAVL
Targeting Brazil, Trump Tests Legal Limit of His Tariff Powers
…
Ted Murphy, a co-leader of the trade practice at the law firm Sidley Austin, said it was not clear “what authority” the White House might cite to impose a 50 percent tariff on Brazilian goods on the basis of that country’s treatment of Mr. Bolsonaro.
“Is a Brazilian political issue a threat to U.S. economic or national security?” Mr. Murphy asked, before offering an answer: “That seems like a bridge too far.”
…
At the center of his legal strategy is the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a 1977 law that past presidents used only to impose sanctions and embargoes. Mr. Trump has adopted a more expansive and contested view of the statute, believing it empowers him to impose duties on a global scale without congressional approval.

From the beginning, Mr. Trump’s interpretation triggered a wave of legal challenges, as businesses, state officials and others argued that he had exceeded his authority under a law that does not even include the word tariff. In May, a federal court agreed, declaring many of Mr. Trump’s tariffs illegal, as a panel of judges determined he did not have “unbounded authority” to wage a global trade war.

The administration to filed an appeal, which remains underway, and government lawyers have said explicitly that they would fight the matter to the Supreme Court if necessary. Federal judges in the meantime have allowed the president to maintain his tariffs, after government lawyers successfully argued that an abrupt halt to the import taxes would undermine his credibility and deal making.