Brazil braces for U.S. 25% tariff on $15 billion of imports

The United States said it will impose a 25% tariff on most imports from Brazil from July 22 under Section 301 after a yearlong investigation concluded that Brazil maintained a range of unfair trade practices, including lax anti-corruption enforcement and tariffs Washington deemed unreasonable. The new account says the order exempts goods that are not produced in the U.S. or that officials believe would disrupt supply chains, including coffee, beef, oranges, orange juice, some oil and gas energy products and aerospace parts and components. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the action was needed to ensure American workers and companies compete on a level playing field and that negotiations had failed to resolve the issues, though Washington remained open to further talks. The move comes despite the U.S. having run a goods trade surplus with Brazil for years and follows the Supreme Court’s February ruling against many Trump tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, prompting the administration to rely on a different legal pathway. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has denounced the tariffs as unjust, linked them to domestic political maneuvering involving Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, and signaled Brazil will pursue reciprocity measures and a World Trade Organization challenge. The dispute may also reverberate in local crypto markets if pressure on the real boosts demand for dollar-denominated stablecoins.