‘Enemy of the people’: Donald Trump’s tariff announcement sparks wild protests in Brazil
Brazilians have taken to the streets in protest of Donald Trump’s latest tariff move, burning effigies of the US President.
Brazilians have taken to the streets in protest of Donald Trump’s latest tariff move, burning effigies of the US President and carrying signs that denounced him as an “enemy of the people”.
Mr Trump announced on Thursday local time his administration would enforce a 50 per cent levy on all imports from the South American nation as of August 1, while accusing its leadership of orchestrating a “witch hunt” against his right-wing ally, former leader Jair Bolsonaro.
In a letter to his now-counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the President insisted that Mr Bolsonaro’s trial – for allegedly plotting a coup to hold on to power after losing the 2022 election – “should not be taking place”. He also complained of “a very unfair trade relationship” with Brazil.
Mr Lula said his government would return serve, triggering Brazil’s reciprocity law if negotiations over the fees fall over.
“If there’s no negotiation, the reciprocity law will be put to work. If he charges 50 (per cent tariffs) from us, we will charge 50 from them,” Mr Lula told TV Record in an interview.
“Respect is good. I like to offer mine and I like to receive it.”
Hordes of furious Brazilians descended on the streets of Sao Paulo in opposition to the US leader’s tariff threat and his relationship with Mr Bolsonaro.
Mr Trump warned Mr Lula that if Brazil raised its tariffs on the US, his administration would respond with even higher rate increases. The President has historically reserved his tariff ire for countries with which the US runs a negative trade balance. Brazil is not one.
Analysts said ideological considerations, not economics, are behind his latest actions in defence of Mr Bolsonaro, the so-called “Trump of the Tropics”.
“Brazil came up on Trump’s radar now because Bolsonaro’s trial is advancing and there are Republican lawmakers who brought the issue to the White House,” political scientist at Brazil’s Getulio Vargas Foundation, Leonardo Paz, told AFP.
Eduardo Bolsonaro, the former president’s son and a Brazilian congressman, recently moved to the US, where he lobbies for pressure on Brasilia and the judges presiding over his father’s coup trial. In a post on X following Mr Trump’s tariff announcement, Eduardo asked his supporters to share “their thank you to President Donald Trump”.
Mr Lula blames Eduardo for troubling the bilateral waters, and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes has ordered an investigation into whether the US-based campaign constitutes obstruction of justice.
Mr Lula said his predecessor, the older Bolsonaro, “should take the responsibility of agreeing with Trump’s taxation to Brazil”.
“His son went there to make up Trump’s mind, then (Trump) writes a letter about a case that is in the hands of the Supreme Court,” he told TV Record.
“A case that is not a political trial. What is under investigation is the evidence of the case.”
Mr Bolsonaro has described Mr Trump as a “friend” and described them both as victims of “persecution”.
Free speech tussle
Mr Trump has also complained of Brazilian “attacks” on free speech and “hundreds of SECRET and UNLAWFUL censorship orders to US media platforms” issued by Brazil’s Supreme Court.
Last month, the court toughened social media regulation, upping the accountability of platforms for user content in a groundbreaking case for Latin America on the spread of fake news and hate speech.
Last year, Justice Moraes blocked Elon Musk’s X platform for 40 days for failing to comply with a series of court orders against online disinformation.
He had also ordered the suspension in Brazil of Rumble, a video-sharing platform popular with conservative and far-right voices – including Mr Trump’s son Donald Jr – over its refusal to block a user accused of spreading disinformation.
Detractors accuse the Judge of running a campaign to stifle free speech.
BRICS brawl
“It didn’t help that the BRICS summit was held in Brazil at a time a narrative exists in the United States portraying the bloc as anti-Western,” Mr Paz said.
Meeting in Rio de Janeiro, the group on Sunday spoke out against Mr Trump’s “indiscriminate” tariff hikes, prompting the President to threaten further trade penalties.
Members China, Russia and India refrained from hitting back, but Mr Lula took it upon himself to defend the “sovereign” nature of BRICS governments, insisting: “We don’t want an emperor.”
Behind the scenes, Brasilia has been negotiating with Washington for months to try and avoid the worst of Mr Trump’s tariff war.
A member of Mr Lula’s entourage told AFP that Mr Trump’s attack on Brazil was partly inspired by “discomfort caused by the strength of the BRICS”, whose members account for about half the world’s population and 40 per cent of global economic output.
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