Trump hikes tariffs on 8 nations! 50% over Brazil!!

Washington: President Donald Trump singled out Brazil for import taxes of 50 per cent on Wednesday for its treatment of its former president, Jair Bolsonaro, showing that personal grudges rather than simple economics are a driving force in the US leader's use of tariffs, the Associated Press reported.

In addition to Brazil, Trump imposed trade tariffs on Algeria, Brunei, Iraq, Libya, Moldova, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka. Algeria, Iraq, Libya, and Sri Lanka were subject to 30 per cent tariffs, Brunei and Moldova were subject to 25 per cent tariffs, and the Philippines was subject to 20 per cent tariffs.

Trump avoided his standard form letter with Brazil, specifically tying his tariffs to the trial of Bolsonaro, who is charged with trying to overturn his 2022 election loss. Trump has described Bolsonaro as a friend and hosted the former Brazilian president at his Mar-a-Lago resort when both were in power in 2020.

“This Trial should not be taking place,” Trump wrote in the letter posted on Truth Social. “It is a Witch Hunt that should end IMMEDIATELY!”

There is a sense of kinship as Trump was indicted in 2023 for his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 US presidential election, according to the Associated Press.

The US president addressed his tariff letter to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who bested Bolsonaro in 2022.

Brazil's vice president, Geraldo Alckmin, said he sees “no reason” for the US to hike tariffs on the South American nation.

“I think he has been misinformed," he said. “President Lula was jailed for almost two years. No one questioned the judiciary. No one questioned what the country had done. This is a matter for our judiciary branch.”

Trump also objected to Brazil's Supreme Court fining of social media companies such as X, saying the temporary blocking last year amounted to “SECRET and UNLAWFUL Censorship Orders.” Trump said he is launching an investigation under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, which applies to companies with trade practices that are deemed unfair to US companies.

Unmentioned in the letter was that X is owned by Elon Musk, Trump's multibillionaire backer in the 2024 election, whose time leading Trump's Department of Government Efficiency recently ended and led to a public feud over the US president's deficit-increasing budget plan. The Brazil letter was a reminder that politics and personal relations with Trump matter just as much as any economic fundamentals. And while Trump has said the high tariff rates he's setting are based on trade imbalances, it was unclear by his Wednesday actions how the countries being targeted would help to reindustrialise America.

The tariffs starting Aug. 1 would be a dramatic increase from the 10 per cent rate that Trump levied on Brazil as part of his April 2 “Liberation Day” announcement. In addition to oil, Brazil sells orange juice, coffee, iron and steel to the US, among other products. The US ran a USD 6.8 billion trade surplus with Brazil last year, according to the Census Bureau.