Today, President Trump directed USTR to impose a 25% tariff on most Brazilian imports. Let there be no confusion about why: President Lula and his government have not negotiated with the US in good faith.

His economic policies are bad for Americans and bad for Brazilians. For the past year, Lula has put his own ego ahead of making a deal for the welfare of the Brazilian people, and these tariffs are the price for that.

Press Release on the Imposition of Unilateral Tariffs Against Brazil by the United States

July 15, 2026, will go down in the history of relations between Brazil and the United States as a lamentable milestone.

The Brazilian government repudiates the decision announced today by the U.S. government regarding the imposition of 25% tariffs on Brazilian products, based on Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974.

There is no justification for unilateral measures against our country. According to statistics from the U.S. government itself, the United States has accumulated a surplus of $424.5 billion in goods and services with Brazil over the past 15 years.

In 2025, 76% of imports originating from the United States entered the country without paying import duties, and the average effective rate applied to U.S. products was only 3.1%.

Brazil does not recognize the legitimacy of investigations without support in the multilateral rules of trade. Despite this, we have never left the negotiating table to defend national interests.

Over the past year, the Brazilian government has acted tirelessly with the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to end the investigations based on Section 301, presenting evidence that refutes each of the allegations regarding alleged unfair trade practices adopted by Brazil.

We have demonstrated that the allegations against PIX and the regulation of digital platforms are unfounded, and the accusations regarding deforestation are absurd. PIX is a heritage of our people and an international reference for public digital infrastructure. In Brazil, we will not abdicate from protecting our families and our children against the greed of a handful of techno-oligarchs. Freedom of expression is not a blank check for criminality. The entire world knows that, starting in 2023, we have combated environmental illicit activities incisively and drastically reduced deforestation across all Brazilian biomes.

In the public hearings promoted by the USTR last week, 63 of the 78 interventions made by representatives of the Brazilian and U.S. private sectors were against the tariff hike.

The government of Brazil will continue to adopt measures to reduce the damage caused to the economy and the income of Brazilians. We will continue to diversify trade partnerships and open new markets for our products, as we have done by signing MERCOSUR agreements with the European Union, the European Free Trade Association, and Singapore.

Through the Sovereign Brazil Plan, we will maintain protective measures for the sectors affected by illegal and arbitrarily imposed tariffs by the U.S. government, preserving jobs and national productive capacity.

Brazil will immediately initiate the procedures to activate the instruments provided for in the Reciprocity Law, approved unanimously by the National Congress, and will resume the issue within the framework of the WTO dispute settlement mechanism.

It is sad to note that the lamentable outcome of the investigations based on Section 301 is part of the plot built with the active collaboration of the Bolsonaro family. They are false patriots who orchestrated and publicly defended actions against our country, driven by electoral objectives.

One cannot love Brazil only when we win elections. Protecting our sovereignty is an obligation that stands above all parties and all trends. The Brazilian government will not falter in its duty to preserve it.

Social Communication Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic

The criminal United States continues its lawless behavior and its efforts to destabilize the region. First, we once again emphasize that under no circumstances and in no way will we allow the United States, as a foreign and extra-regional country, to interfere in the Strait of Hormuz. This is Iran’s inviolable red line. If the recent threats by the empty-headed President of the United States to target the infrastructure of the Islamic Republic of Iran are carried out by that country’s aggressor military, then everything that has so far remained intact due to Iran’s restraint—that is, all infrastructure in the region—will be crushed under the iron blows of the powerful Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran, so completely that no trace of it will remain, as if it had never existed. Let the ignorant enemy know: for us, the moment of epic action is not the moment for restraint. Whatever the Iranian Armed Forces do will not be a proportional strike—it will be a superior strike. These blows will be harsher, broader, and more devastating than ever before. The fire of the anger of a nation that has never surrendered will consume the aggressor.