U.S. Announces 25% Tariffs on Brazil After Section 301 Probe Finds Unfair Trade Practices and Inadequate Anti-Corruption Enforcement

U.S. commerce. S. Trade Representative conducted the investigation and charged Brazil with lax anti-corruption enforcement and unfair tariffs of its own, among other issues.

Brazil is the world’s 10th-biggest economy. S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said he and President Donald Trump held “constructive” meetings with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and other Brazilian officials.

His office scheduled a public hearing for July 6 on the proposed tariffs. S. imports from Brazil, including aircraft and key minerals, according to trade lawyer Ryan Majerus, a partner at King & Spalding.

The Trump administration invoked Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 to launch the investigation into Brazil’s trade practices. Section 301 tariffs have survived legal challenges. Last year, Trump imposed a 50% tariff on Brazil, mainly to protest its prosecution of former president Jair Bolsonaro for trying to overturn his electoral defeat in 2022.

U.S. trading partners, including the one that targeted Brazil.

The administration is likely to use Section 301 authority to impose other tariffs and to recoup some of the tax revenue lost when the Supreme Court rejected the IEEPA tariffs.