President Donald Trump ordered massive tariffs on Brazil on Wednesday and sanctions against the judge overseeing a trial of his far-right ally Jair Bolsonaro, who is accused of attempting a coup in Latin America’s biggest economy.
The announcement of tariffs totalling 50% saw Trump make good on his threat to wield American economic might to punish Brazil – and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes in particular – for what he has termed a “witch hunt” against former President Bolsonaro.
Unlike the tariffs Trump is slapping on economies around the world, the measures against Brazil have been framed in openly political terms, sweeping aside centuries-old trade ties and a surplus that Brasilia put at US$284 million last year.
The moves dramatically increased the pressure on Moraes, who has emerged as one of the most powerful and polarising people in Brazil – and a consistent thorn in the far-right’s side, after clashing repeatedly with Bolsonaro and others over disinformation.
Trump signed an executive order implementing an additional 40% tariff on Brazilian products, bringing total trade duties to 50%, the White House announced.
The order said the new duties would not come into effect for seven days, and listed exemptions on some of Brazil’s major exports – including planes, orange juice and pulp, Brazil nuts, and some iron, steel and aluminium products.
The Brazilian Government’s “politically motivated persecution, intimidation, harassment, censorship, and prosecution of [Bolsonaro] and thousands of his supporters are serious human rights abuses that have undermined the rule of law in Brazil”, the White House said in a fact sheet announcing the tariffs.
It also cited Brazil’s “unusual and extraordinary policies and actions harming US companies, the free speech rights of US persons, US foreign policy, and the US economy”, and singled out Moraes by name.
The new duties were announced shortly after the US Treasury slapped sanctions on Moraes, which followed a similar move by the State Department earlier this month.
The sanctions provoked a swift and furious response from Brasilia, where Attorney General Jorge Messias slammed them as “arbitrary”, “unjustifiable”, and “a serious attack on the sovereignty of our country”.
There was no immediate reaction from Brasilia to the tariffs announcement, but President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had earlier denounced Trump’s threats as “unacceptable blackmail”.
Bolsonaro is facing up to 40 years in prison for allegedly plotting a coup to stay in power after losing the 2022 election to leftist Lula.
Prosecutors say the plot included a plan to arrest and even assassinate Lula, his vice-president Geraldo Alckmin, and Moraes.
Brazil has insisted it will proceed in its prosecution of Bolsonaro, and Trump’s intervention in the case has so far boosted Lula’s popularity, as the Brazilian leader appeals for national unity in the face of US “interference”.
Both Marco Rubio, America’s top diplomat, and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent issued statements on Wednesday announcing the new sanctions against Moraes.
“Moraes has taken it upon himself to be judge and jury in an unlawful witch hunt against US and Brazilian citizens and companies,” Bessent said.
Rubio, the Secretary of State, accused Moraes of “serious human rights abuses, including arbitrary detention involving flagrant denials of fair trial guarantees and infringing on the freedom of expression”.
Moraes, 56, has played a controversial role in fighting disinformation.
He was an omnipresent figure during the polarising 2022 election campaign, aggressively using his rulings to fight election disinformation on social media.
That included blocking the accounts of some prominent conservative figures.
Last year, he ordered the shutdown of tech titan Elon Musk’s X network in Brazil for 40 days for failing to tackle the spread of disinformation shared mainly by Bolsonaro backers.
Bolsonaro has called Moraes a dictator, while his son Eduardo, an MP, had lobbied for US sanctions against the “totalitarian” judge.
On Wednesday, Eduardo Bolsonaro said the US action was “not about revenge, it’s about justice”.
“Abuses of authority now have global consequences,” he wrote on X.
The US Treasury cited the Magnitsky Act for the sanctions. It freezes US-based assets and bars travel to the country for foreign officials accused of human rights abuses or corruption.
– Agence France-Presse