Trump signs order to justify 50% tariffs on Brazil
July 30, 2025
President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to impose his threatened 50% tariffs on Brazil. The order Wednesday sets a legal rationale that Brazil’s policies and criminal prosecution of former President Jair Bolsonaro constitute an economic emergency under a 1977 law. Trump earlier this month threatened the tariffs on Brazil in a letter to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. But the legal basis of that threat was an earlier executive order premised on trade imbalances being a threat to the U.S. economy. But America ran a $6.8 billion trade surplus last year with Brazil, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.