Trump, who has repeatedly called climate change fake, is now threatening Brazil with tariffs over the deforestation of the Amazon

In the first year of his second term, President Donald Trump made a special effort to deny the impacts of climate change. In a September 2025 United Nations speech, he called carbon footprints a “hoax” and criticized climate policies, jabbing, “Windmills are pathetic.” The White House defunded renewable energy subsidies, dismissing them as a waste of government funding. But the administration launched a probe this month into Brazil’s deforestation as part of Trump’s implementation of new tariffs, which entail investigations into countries’ trade practices. Brazil is home to about 60% of the Amazon rainforest, which absorbs carbon dioxide that would otherwise enter the atmosphere and contribute to global warming. Legal deforestation—mostly as a result of cattle ranching and agricultural expansion—has cost the country about 3.7 million acres per year. To be sure, Trump hasn’t changed his mind about climate change, though his sudden concern over deforestation is still ironic. Instead, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced a wave of new tariffs on dozens of major U.S. trading partners under Section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act, alleging they failed to enforce bans on imports made with forced labor. The levies included an additional 12.5% import tax on Brazil, which was accused of six practices that unlawfully limit U.S. trade, including unfair and preferential tariffs, ethanol market barriers, as well as illegal deforestation. Illegal logging and land-clearing often rely on uncompensated labor, and the products that come from deforestation practices may have artificially low costs as a result of unfair labor practices, which undermine competition. The USTR’s investigation alleges Brazil violated its environmental laws, but does not explicitly mention climate change. The new duties under Section 301 come after the Supreme Court struck down tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. As the Trump administration looks for other ways to pres