Trump administration proposes 25% tariff to punish Brazil over trade practices

Subscribed with another email? Logout and Login with that one. Account subscription benefits alongside Premium Stories, Editorials, Opinions and more. Unlock these with Subscription The View From India Looking at World Affairs from the Indian perspective. First Day First Show News and reviews from the world of cinema and streaming. Today's Cache Your download of the top 5 technology stories of the day. Science For All The weekly newsletter from science writers takes the jargon out of science and puts the fun in! Data Point Decoding the headlines with facts, figures, and numbers THEdge At the cutting edge of education and careers Health Matters Ramya Kannan writes to you on getting to good health, and staying there Gender Agenda Stories from beyond the binary. The Hindu On Books Books of the week, reviews, excerpts, new titles and features. Published - June 02, 2026 02:19 pm IST - WASHINGTON U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. File | Photo Credit: Getty Images The Trump administration has proposed a new punitive tariff of 25% on many imports from Brazil, after deciding its practices were unfair on a range of issues from digital trade to illegal deforestation, top trade official Jamieson Greer said on Monday (June 1, 2026). The measures, under the Section 301 trade legislation, cover areas such as electronic payment services, preferential tariffs, intellectual property protection and ethanol market access as well, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) said. It proposed the new duties as it released the results of its unfair trade practices investigation into Brazil that started last year under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. But it excluded some items, such as beef, coffee, rare earths, other metals and aircraft parts from the new tariffs. Brazil's practices in the areas investigated "are unreasonable and burden or restrict U.S. commerce, are thus actionable under Section 301(b) of the Trade Act," the USTR said in a statement. The tariffs would partially replace a tariff of 50% on many Brazilian goods imposed last year by President Donald Trump, with 40% as a punishment for Brazil's prosecution of its former President, Mr. Trump ally Jair Bolsonaro. However, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down those duties in February. In a statement, Mr. Greer said that he launched the Section 301 investigation to tackle "longstanding and pervasive U.S. concerns with certain of Brazil's trade policies and practices." Despite recent engagement with Brazilian President Inacio Lula da Silva and his cabinet, Mr. Greer said the United States and Brazil "continue to have substantial differences in resolving issues identified in this investigation." The trade agency invited comment on the proposed tariffs through July 1, with a public hearing set for July 6. It faces a July 15 deadline for taking "responsive action" in the Section 301 investigation. Mr. Trump used the same statute to impose sweeping tariffs on Chinese goods during his first term. The USTR has several other open Section 301 investigations that are expected to lead to new duties. Among these are one covering excess industrial capacity in China and 15 other trading partners, as well as one into enforcement of forced labour bans in 60 countries. U.S. trade court rules against Trump’s global 10% tariff The agency opened a new investigation on Friday (May 29, 2026) into Vietnam's intellectual property practices. Regarding its Brazil findings, the USTR said the proposed new 25% tariff would not apply to Brazilian imports subject to national security-related tariffs under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. These include 50% duties on steel, aluminum and copper and 25% duties on finished products made from those metals, as well as a 25% duty on motor vehicles and auto parts. The USTR said products exempted from the proposed 25% tariffs included many fruits and nuts, crude oil and petroleum products, pharmaceutical compounds, organic chemicals and fertilizers. These are in addition to beef, coffee, rare earths, certain other metals and ores and Brazilian aircraft and aircraft parts. Brazil / USA / international relations / trade dispute Copyright© 2026, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. Terms & conditions | Institutional Subscriber Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments. We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.

Trump administration proposes 25% tariff to punish Brazil over trade practices

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Trump administration proposes 25% tariff to punish Brazil over trade practices

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