Trump puts 50 percent tariffs on Brazil, copper
He also announced in a Truth Social post that his administration has a trade framework in place with Pakistan, although details were scarce.
Trump said the agreement, if completed, would include developing Pakistan's oil reserves with a yet-to-be-named oil company, reports CNN.
Trump also said his administration will meet with a South Korean trade delegation Wednesday afternoon. South Korea has been long expected to be among the next countries in line to hammer out a trade framework with the United States.
Trump had previously threatened to impose the 50 percent tariff on Brazil effective August one in a letter he sent earlier this month to the country's president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, warning the hefty tariff if Brazil did not end its trial against right-wing former president, Jair Bolsonaro.
However, in order signed today by Trump, Brazil's tariff increases by 40 percentage points, effective early next month, accusing the Brazilian government of 'serious human rights abuses that have undermined the rule of law in Brazil'.
Incidentally, the new tariff on Brazil appeared to be incited by non-economic matters.
'The Order finds that the Government of Brazil's politically motivated persecution, intimidation, harassment, censorship and prosecution of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and thousands of his supporters are serious human rights' abuses that have undermined the rule of law in Brazil,' the order reads.
The announcement of the increased tariff rate comes the same day that the United States is sanctioning Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, 12 days after announcing visa restrictions against him and other court officials over Bolsonaro's trial.
In a separate presidential proclamation, Trump imposed 'universal 50 percent tariffs on imports of semi-finished copper products,' including pipes, wires, and sheets, and 'copper-intensive derivative products,' the White House said in a fact sheet.
Copper is a crucial component in a variety of goods, including electronics, machinery and cars, and tariffs on the source material could make those products more expensive.
The tariffs will impact semi-finished copper products like copper pipes and copper-intensive derivate products like cables, the White House said. However, the tariffs will not impact refined copper, a critical input for manufacturing.
The Trump administration had slashed the de minimis exemption on China in May, cutting the tariff on those cheap packages from 120 percent to 54 percent and slashing the rate from 145 percent to 30 percent for packages from commercial carriers.
As part of Trump's 'Big Beautiful Bill', the de minimis rule was slated to be repealed for all countries in July 2027, and the bill even established a civil penalty up to $10,000 for more than one violation of the rule.
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