Trump Hikes Tariffs on Imports from Brazil

President Trump issued July 30 an executive order imposing an additional 40 percent tariff on imports from Brazil, bringing the total tariff on such imports to 50 percent.

New authority. The U.S. had already been imposing a 10 percent “reciprocal” tariff on Brazilian goods under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act based on a declared national emergency regarding U.S. trade deficits (even though the U.S. runs a trade surplus with Brazil), and that tariff will remain in place.

The EO declares a new national emergency under IEEPA regarding the Brazilian government’s “unusual and extraordinary policies and actions harming U.S. companies, the free speech rights of U.S. persons, U.S. foreign policy, and the U.S. economy.” Specifically, the EO states that Brasilia’s “politically motivated persecution, intimidation, harassment, censorship, and prosecution of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and thousands of his supporters are serious human rights abuses that have undermined the rule of law in Brazil.” The EO further cites “unprecedented” actions by government officials to “tyrannically and arbitrarily coerce U.S. companies to censor political speech, deplatform users, turn over sensitive U.S. user data, or change their content moderation policies on pain of extraordinary fines, criminal prosecution, asset freezes, or complete exclusion from the Brazilian market.”

Covered products. This tariff will be effective with respect to goods entered or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption on or after 12:01 am EDT on Aug. 6, with the following exceptions.

– an extensive list of goods set forth in Annex I of the EO (see the text of the EO linked above)

– goods covered by 50 USC 1702(b) (personal communications, donations, informational materials, etc.)

– goods that (1) were loaded onto a vessel at the port of loading and in transit on the final mode of transit prior to entry into the U.S. before 12:01 am EDT on Aug. 6 and (2) are entered or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption before 12:01 am EDT on Oct. 5

In addition, this tariff will not apply to any imports from Brazil subject to existing or future Section 232 actions.

Modifications. The EO states the U.S. (1) will increase this new tariff by the same amount of any retaliatory tariffs Brazil may impose on U.S. exports and (2) may lower this tariff if the government of Brazil takes “significant steps to address the national emergency declared in this order and align sufficiently with the United States on national security, economic, and foreign policy matters described in this order.”