The 50% US tariff on Brazilian goods would take effect August 1, Trump said in his letter, mirroring a deadline that dozens of other economies face.
While Trump has started to issue letters to many trading partners this week, he has focused on those with which the US runs significant deficits.
Brazil had not been among those threatened previously with higher tariffs. The US runs a goods trade surplus with Brazil.
Escalation threats
Trump’s message to Lula was the latest in more than 20 such letters the US President has released since Monday, setting out tariff rates as Washington tries to bring about more trade deals.
He has also addressed letters to leaders of the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Brunei, Algeria, Libya, Iraq and Moldova, spelling out duties ranging from 20% to 30%, to take effect on August 1.
Most of the tariff levels are similar to those originally threatened in April, although some countries have received notably lower rates this time.
In April, Trump imposed a 10% levy on almost all trading partners. However, he also unveiled – and then withheld – higher rates for dozens of economies.
The deadline for those steeper levels to take effect was meant to be Wednesday, before Trump postponed it further to August 1.
In messages spelling out the higher tariffs, Trump justified them as a response to trade ties that he said were “far from reciprocal”.
The letters urged countries to manufacture products in the US to avoid duties, while threatening further escalation if leaders retaliated.
Other countries that have received Trump’s letters include key US allies Japan and South Korea, as well as Indonesia, Bangladesh and Thailand.
EU deal in ‘coming days’?
Analysts have noted that Asian countries have been a key target so far.
But all eyes are on the state of negotiations with major partners who have yet to receive such letters, including the European Union.
The Trump administration is under pressure to unveil more trade pacts. So far, Washington has reached agreements only with Britain and Vietnam, alongside a deal to temporarily lower tit-for-tat levies with China.
Earlier this week, Trump said his Government was “probably two days off” from sending the EU a letter with an updated tariff rate.
An EU spokesman said today that the bloc wanted to strike a deal with the US “in the coming days”, and had shown readiness to reach an agreement in principle.
Apart from tariffs targeting goods from different countries, Trump has rolled out sector-specific duties on steel, aluminium and cars since returning to the White House in January.
On Tuesday, he said levies were incoming on copper and pharmaceuticals.
The planned rate for copper was 50%, he added, while pharmaceutical products faced a levy as high as 200%. However, manufacturers would be given time to relocate their operations to the US.
– Agence France-Presse
