US to impose new tariffs of 25 percent on some Brazilian products | Stories of Trade Wars

Beef, coffee, and other non-U.S. products escaped U.S. tariffs amid trade disputes with Brazil over unfair practices.

The United States is expected to do so 25 percent of the work on thousands of Brazilian imports, including sugar, clothing, paper, and steel, as the White House revises its tariff plan.

The new tariffs on Brazil were announced late Wednesday by the US trade representative. This marks the first tariff under the White House’s new trade plan using Section 301, a section of the US trade law that allows for the investigation of so-called unfair trade practices, which the US uses to justify tariffs imposed against a country.

The tariffs, which were passed last month, will take effect on July 22, and will include other products, including beef and coffee – both of which have become more expensive for US consumers over the past year amid US President Donald Trump’s trade war.

Beef prices are up 11.8 percent compared to this time last year, according to the latest Consumer Price Index report released by the US Department of Labor, and coffee is up 12 percent.

Licensing may also apply to other natural resources, aircraft equipment, and other oil and gas products.

Although the US still has an increase in trade with Brazil, $ 14.4bn in 2025, from $ 7.7bn in 2024, the new rates come at the end of a year-long study that stated that Brazil has engaged in disproportionate trade with the US, including related to digital trade and deforestation.

However, Brazilian officials, including President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, have long criticized the charges, suggesting they were politically motivated, following a case in which the South American country accused former President Jair Bolsonaro, a key Trump ally, of involvement in fraud.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio pushed back against Lula by writing on X, saying that the Brazilian leader, who is seeking re-election, did not cooperate with the US “in good faith”.

“For the past year, Lula has put his own interests first in creating a deal that will help the Brazilian people, and these prices are the price,” Rubio said.

The newly announced tariffs follow negotiations that included more than 30 meetings between the officials of the two countries.

“Extensive negotiations with Brazil over the past year have not resolved this issue, but we remain prepared to continue negotiations with Brazil to bring about long-term changes to the issues identified in this investigation,” US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in a statement.

The newly announced tariffs are the first imposed under Section 301 in the US Supreme Court Trump is sweeping international tariffs earlier this year. The Supreme Court has ruled that the president does not have the power to impose tariffs by using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).

The move comes amid similar trade talks with other governments around the world, including the European Union, India, Japan, and South Korea.

Brazil is also included in a separate Section 301 investigation that will be completed later this month amid allegations of forced labor in many countries.