Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva called President Trump’s 50 percent tariff against the country “political” and “illogical” in a New York Times opinion column published Sunday.
“The tariff increase imposed on Brazil this summer is not only misguided but illogical,” he said. “The lack of economic rationale behind these measures makes it clear that the motivation of the White House is political.”
Lula noted that most U.S. imports are not subject to tariffs in Brazil, while the U.S. has accumulated a surplus of $410 billion in trade and services with Brazil over the past 15 years.
He pointed to reports that Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau suggested to business leaders in Brazil that the tariffs were at least partly in response to regulations around social media platforms in the country of more than 200 million people.
The conviction last week of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, a Trump ally, has ramped up tensions with the White House. Bolsonaro was charged with trying to orchestrate a coup after his 2022 defeat to Lula.
In his executive order announcing the 50 percent tariffs on July 30, Trump explicitly pointed to Bolsonaro’s prosecution and what he described as online censorship by Brazil’s government and Supreme Court, which he argues undermined U.S. interests.
Lula said Sunday that his government is open to negotiating with the Trump administration on a mutually beneficial trade deal, “but Brazil’s democracy and sovereignty are not on the table.”
On Thursday, Brazil’s Supreme Court sentenced Bolsonaro to 27 years in prison for the failed coup attempt. Investigations into the coup uncovered a plan to assassinate the then-president-elect, the vice president and a Supreme Court justice, Lula said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Thursday that the U.S. is preparing to “respond accordingly” to the conviction, accusing the Brazilian federal court justice who is overseeing the case and others of unfairly targeting Bolsonaro.
The Trump administration has accused the country of censoring American tech companies, unfair digital trade and electronic payment services, and negligence when it came to enforcing environmental laws, all of which Lula denied in the op-ed.
Despite the escalating feud, Lula argued it was in both countries’ interest to restore positive relations.
“When the United States turns its back on a relationship of more than 200 years, such as the one it maintains with Brazil, everyone loses,” Lula said. “This is how I see the relationship between Brazil and the United States: two great nations capable of respecting each other and cooperating for the good of Brazilians and Americans.”