US President Donald Trump signed a decree on Wednesday July 30 on Brazilian products from 10 to 50%. He had threatened Brasilia in recent weeks to impose such a surcharge in retaliation for the prosecution launched against the former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, prosecuted for an attempted coup after his defeat in the presidential election in 2022.
Donald Trump severely increases the tone. On Wednesday, July 30, the American president signed a decree imposing 40 percentage points of additional customs duties on products imported from Brazil, which protects it in total, surcharge to 50%.
According to the decree, published on the White House site, the surcharge, which will come into force from August 6, is justified by “the unusual and extraordinary threat that Brazil constitutes for national security, the economy and foreign policy of the United States”.
Building on this American support, the son of the former president, Eduardo Bolsonaro, said he was “very grateful”, calling “the other leaders of the free world to unite in the United States”.
The President of the United States had threatened Brasilia in recent weeks to impose such a surcharge, in retaliation for the prosecution launched against ex-president of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro, prosecuted for an attempted coup after his defeat during the election of presidential election in 2022.
And the United States is not at its first blow, to support Jair Bolsonaro. The American Treasury Department first took sanctions targeting Alexander of Moraes, the judge of the Brazilian Supreme Court, which Washington accuses of “arbitrary detentions” and non-compliance with “freedom of expression”.
The Treasury believes that the judge took advantage of his position to “target political opponents, in particular the ex-president Jair Bolsonaro, journalists, American social networks and other American and international companies”.
“Witch hunt”
“Alexandre de Moraes granted himself the right to be a judge and jury to orchestrate an illegal witch hunt against citizens and American and Brazilian companies. The sanctions of this day recall that the Treasury will hold those who threaten the American interests and the freedom of our citizens,” said the secretary of the Treasury, Scott Bessent, quoted in a statement.
These sanctions lead to the freezing of all the assets held by Alexandre de Moraes in the United States as well as the ban for citizens or American companies to do business with the Brazilian judge, under penalty of prosecution.
They complement those announced by the State Department on July 18, which aimed at all the judges of the Supreme Court and their close relatives, who are all prohibited from entering the United States.
“That this serves as a warning to those who would like to flout the rights of their fellow citizens. A judge dress cannot protect you,” American Secretary of State reacted Marco Rubio.
The Brazilian government has described these sanctions as “arbitrary” and “unjustifiable”, and sees it as “a serious and unacceptable attack on sovereignty” in Brazil, according to a statement from the Brazilian Agency for the Legal Defense of the State (AGU).
The minister in charge of institutional relations in Brazil, Gleisi Hoffmann, expressed the “total rejection of the Lula government” towards these sanctions.
Bolsonar risks 40 years jail
Jair Bolsonaro’s trial for an alleged coup attempt against the current left -wing president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva must end in the coming weeks. The ex-head of state (2019-2022), 70 years old, risks more than 40 years in prison.
In addition to wearing an electronic bracelet, Jair Bolsonaro is forced to stay at home evening and weekend, and prohibits using social networks and contacting Embassies and Foreign Authorities.
The Brazilian authorities have also adopted a very firm posture concerning the fight against disinformation, the Supreme Court having hardened in June 2024 the regulation of social networks.
Judge Moraes had blocked for 40 days X in Brazil, until the Multimillionaire Elon Musk network complies with the orders of deleting accounts accused of disseminating info.
For the same reasons, he ordered in February the blocking of the Rumble video platform, popular with American conservatives.
