In his words, “I agree with Trump’s thinking,” However, harming our nation commercially is wrong and detrimental to us. Since Brazil is the biggest supplier of coffee worldwide, a high tariff may raise costs for American customers. Additionally, the nation exports steel, oil, and airplanes to the United States, thus the effects may be felt in a variety of industries.

Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro — Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the president of Brazil, says the United States should respect his nation and is prepared to levy retaliatory tariffs if President Donald Trump follows through on his promise to put a 50% tax on Brazilian imports beginning on August 1. In a social media message, Trump issued the warning, referring to what he described as a “witch hunt” against former far-right Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who is presently on trial for attempting to rig the 2022 election. The matter should be dropped, Trump stated, referring to Bolsonaro as “a Highly Respected Leader throughout the World.”

In an interview that was uploaded to his official media account, Lula stated that initially he believed the letter from Trump to be a fake. “Respect for the Brazilian people is essential. Brazilian justice must be upheld. “We are a great, independent nation with a long history of diplomacy with all countries,” Lula stated. Brazil will take the required steps to safeguard its citizens and businesses. Unlike many of the more than 20 nations that also received tariff warning letters this week, the United States now enjoys a trade surplus with Brazil. The United States exported more goods to Brazil last year than it imported. Trump’s assertion that the trade relationship was “far from reciprocal” was therefore deemed blatantly false by Lula.

Although Trump has threatened other nations with comparable tariffs, analysts say this instance is unique. Marc Busch, a professor of trade policy at Georgetown, thinks it is extremely provocative to use tariffs as political pressure on the internal legal system of another nation. “Brazil taking this seriously may escalate in a dramatic and qualitatively different way than Trump has seen with other trade partners,” Busch stated.

Although Brazil’s Finance Minister Fernando Haddad has attempted to defuse the situation, Lula claims his government is considering reprisal. According to his statement in an interview, every disagreement “can and must be overcome through diplomacy.”

The rhetoric between the two presidents has escalated over the past several days. Brazil hosted a meeting of the BRICS rising economies earlier this week, which brought together new members like Egypt and Indonesia as well as founding members Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. There, Lula retaliated sharply against Trump’s tariff threats on the BRICS nations. “We don’t want an emperor — we are sovereign nations,” he stated. Brazil’s exporters have been spooked by the tariff threats. Although he supports Trump’s views, Gláucio de Castro, a coffee farmer and the leader of a significant growers federation in Minas Gerais, stated that this decision would negatively impact Brazil’s economy.