Latest news with #LulaDaSilva
NHK
4 hours ago
- Business
- NHK
Trump signs order to impose 50% tariffs on Brazil imports
US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to raise tariffs on imports from Brazil to 50 percent. Trump signed the order on Wednesday to add a 40 percent tariff to the 10 percent rate already in place. He cited what he described as political persecution of his ally, former President Jair Bolsonaro, as the reason for the increase. Bolsonaro has been charged with attempting to overturn the results of the 2022 presidential election. Some of Brazil's main exports, such as orange juice, energy and aircraft, have been excluded from the new 50 percent tariff. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva hit back with a statement on Wednesday, saying the move harms Brazil's sovereignty and the historical ties between the two countries. The tariff hike is seen as Trump's method of exerting political pressure, as the United States runs a trade surplus with Brazil.
The Guardian
5 hours ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Trump news at a glance: president on tariff blitz ahead of August deadline
Donald Trump's administration has imposed sanctions against the judge overseeing the prosecution of his far-right ally Jair Bolsonaro and hit Brazil with huge tariffs amid accusations from the country's president that Trump has launched 'a direct attack on Brazilian democracy'. The US president has partly attributed his 50% tariff to his outrage at the supposed political 'witch-hunt' against Bolsonaro, the former Brazilian president, who is on trial over an alleged coup attempt after the 2022 election. Amid a blitz of tariff announcements, Trump also hit India with a 25% levy and an extra 'penalty' because it buys arms and energy from Russia, while imposing a 15% rate on South Korea as part of a trade deal that avoids even higher levies. Domestically, experts say they have 'enormous concerns' with a Trump administration initiative for millions of Americans to upload personal health data and medical records on new apps and systems run by private tech companies. Here are the key stories. Allies of Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva have accused Donald Trump of launching 'a direct attack on Brazilian democracy' after the US treasury slapped sanctions on Alexandre de Moraes, the supreme court judge widely credited with helping save Brazilian democracy from a 2022 rightwing coup. The controversial US move was announced on Wednesday by the secretary of the treasury, Scott Bessent, shortly before Trump followed through on a threat to hit Brazilian imports with 50% tariffs by signing an executive order 'to deal with the recent policies, practices and actions by the government of Brazil'. Read the full story Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has said he does not fear getting on the wrong side of Donald Trump as South America's largest economy braces for the introduction of 50% tariffs. Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order confirming the US would impose the rate on Brazil from next week. Read the full story The US Federal Reserve left its benchmark interest rate unchanged on Wednesday despite intense pressure from Trump to lower rates. Amid an onslaught of attacks from the White House against the Fed, officials at the central bank said economic 'uncertainty' remained too high to lower rates. Read the full story The president has said the US will charge a 15% tariff on imports from South Korea as part of an agreement with the key Asian trading partner and ally that avoids even higher levies. The arrangement – announced shortly after Trump met with Korean officials at the White House – came during a blizzard of trade policy announcements ahead of a self-imposed 1 August deadline, when the president has promised higher tariffs will kick in on US imports from a range of countries. Read the full story The US government is pushing an initiative for millions of Americans to upload personal health data and medical records on new apps and systems run by private tech companies, promising easier to access health records and wellness monitoring. 'There are enormous ethical and legal concerns,' said Lawrence Gostin, a Georgetown University law professor who specialises in public health. 'Patients across America should be very worried that their medical records are going to be used in ways that harm them and their families.' Read the full story A former CIA officer who helped lead the intelligence assessments over alleged Russia interference in the 2016 presidential election has said Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, is ignorant of the practices of espionage after she accused Barack Obama and his national security team of 'treasonous conspiracy' against Donald Trump. Read the full story Donald Trump's former rival for the presidency, Kamala Harris, has announced she is not running for California governor, as had been widely expected. The former vice-president and 2024 Democratic presidential nominee announced on Wednesday that she would not run, in a decision that leaves the contest to lead the country's largest blue state wide open. Read the full story Donald Trump has doubled down on his backing for Israel after having appeared to give a green light to the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, to recognise a Palestinian state. Amid signs of mounting opposition among his Maga base to Israel's military operation in Gaza, Trump criticized Starmer's plan to grant recognition as 'rewarding Hamas', even after having not taken issue with it when the pair met in Scotland this week. The Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, later announced his country also planned to formally recognise Palestine in September. Read the full story A group of global civil society organisations has placed the US on a watchlist for urgent concern over the health of its civic society, alongside Turkey, Serbia, El Salvador, Indonesia and Kenya. Read the full story The US is suspending a 'de minimis' exemption that allowed low-value commercial shipments to be shipped into the country without facing tariffs, the White House said. Under Trump's order, parcels valued at or under $800 sent outside of the international postal network will face 'all applicable duties'. Republicans have unveiled a new congressional map in Texas that would allow the party to pick up as many as five additional congressional seats, an aggressive manoeuvre that has already met decisive outcry from Democrats and comes as the GOP tries to stave off losses in next year's midterm elections. Arizona congressman Greg Stanton says the US government violated federal law when it refused to allow him to visit a local restaurant owner held in an immigration detention facility last week. Mexico's president, Claudia Sheinbaum, has said the country is demanding the repatriation of at least 30 of its citizens currently being held in the controversial Florida immigration detention centre known as 'Alligator Alcatraz'. Catching up? Here's what happened 29 July 2025.
Malay Mail
5 hours ago
- Business
- Malay Mail
Trump hits Brazil with tariffs, sanctions judge in Bolsonaro ‘witch hunt' row
WASHINGTON, July 31 — President Donald Trump ordered massive tariffs on Brazil Wednesday and sanctions against the judge overseeing a trial of his far-right ally Jair Bolsonaro, who is accused of attempting a coup in Latin America's biggest economy. The announcement of 50 per cent tariffs saw Trump make good on his threat to wield US economic might to punish Brazil — and its Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, in particular — for what he has termed a 'witch hunt' against former president Bolsonaro. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva hit back at the move, saying he would defend 'the sovereignty of the Brazilian people in the face of measures announced by the president of the United States.' Unlike other tariffs Trump is slapping on economies around the world, the measures against Brazil have been framed in openly political terms, sweeping aside centuries-old trade ties and a surplus that Brasilia put at US$284 million (RM1.2 billion) last year. The moves dramatically increased the pressure on Moraes, who has emerged as a powerful and polarising thorn in the far-right's side, after clashing repeatedly with Bolsonaro and others over disinformation. Trump's executive order added a 40 per cent tariff on Brazilian products, bringing total trade duties to 50 per cent, the White House announced. The order said the new duties would not come into effect for seven days, and listed exemptions on some of Brazil's major exports — including planes, orange juice and pulp, Brazil nuts, and some iron, steel and aluminum products. The Brazilian government's 'politically motivated persecution, intimidation, harassment, censorship, and prosecution of (Bolsonaro) and thousands of his supporters are serious human rights abuses that have undermined the rule of law in Brazil,' the White House said in a fact sheet announcing the tariffs. It also cited Brazil's 'unusual and extraordinary policies and actions harming US companies, the free speech rights of US persons, US foreign policy, and the US economy,' and singled out Moraes by name. The new duties were announced shortly after the US Treasury slapped sanctions on Moraes, which followed a similar move by the State Department earlier this month. Brazil's Attorney General Jorge Messias slammed the sanctions as 'arbitrary' and 'unjustifiable.' Bolsonaro is facing up to 40 years in prison for allegedly plotting a coup to stay in power after losing the 2022 election to leftist Lula. Prosecutors say the plot included a plan to arrest and even assassinate Lula, his vice president Geraldo Alckmin, and Moraes. Brazil has refused to drop the charges, and Trump's intervention in the case has so far boosted Lula's popularity. On Wednesday, Human Rights Watch's Americas director, Juanita Goebertus, declared the US tariffs and sanctions 'a clear violation of judicial independence.' 'Witch hunt' Both US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent issued statements Wednesday announcing the new sanctions against Moraes. 'Moraes has taken it upon himself to be judge and jury in an unlawful witch hunt against US and Brazilian citizens and companies,' Bessent said. Rubio, who accused Moraes in his statement of 'serious human rights abuses,' also met his Brazilian counterpart, Mauro Viera, on Wednesday. Viera said that Brazil's judiciary would 'not bow to external pressure.' Moraes, 56, has played a controversial role in fighting disinformation. He was an omnipresent figure during the polarising 2022 election campaign, aggressively using his rulings to fight election disinformation on social media. Last year, he ordered the shutdown of tech titan Elon Musk's X network in Brazil for 40 days for failing to tackle disinformation shared mainly by Bolsonaro backers. Bolsonaro has called Moraes a dictator, while his son Eduardo had lobbied for US sanctions against the 'totalitarian' judge. On Wednesday, Eduardo Bolsonaro said the US action was 'not about revenge, it's about justice.' 'Abuses of authority now have global consequences,' he wrote on X. The US Treasury cited the Magnitsky Act for the sanctions. It freezes US-based assets and bars travel to the country for foreign officials accused of human rights abuses or corruption. — AFP
Bloomberg
13 hours ago
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Trump Orders 50% Tariffs on Brazil to Come Into Effect in 7 Days
President Donald Trump raised total tariffs on Brazilian exports to 50%, delivering on his promise to retaliate against Latin America's largest economy for what he's described as attacks on free speech and a 'witch hunt' against former President Jair Bolsonaro. The executive order signed on Wednesday says Bolsonaro, who's standing trial for his alleged participation in coup attempt against President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has been victim of 'politically motivated persecution.'
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Trump hits Brazil with a 50 percent import tariff
Donald Trump has hit Brazil with a 50 percent import tariff on 'any and all' goods sent to the United States as punishment for the 'witch hunt' trial against former president Jair Bolsonaro. Trump fired off a furious letter to Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Wednesday laying out the details of his new tariff. 'The way that Brazil has treated former President Bolsonaro, a Highly Respected Leader throughout the world... is an international disgrace,' Trump wrote in the letter, which he shared to Truth Social. Bolsonaro is on trial accused of trying to overturn his 2022 election loss. He testified in June before the country's Supreme Court over his alleged plot to remain in power despite losing the vote. The president said his whopping tariff was also in part a response to Brazil's 'insidious attacks on Free Elections and the Fundamental Free Speech rights of Americans.' He said a decision by Brazil's Supreme Court to fine and temporarily block US social media companies last year amounted to 'SECRET and UNLAWFUL Censorship Orders.' Trump said he is launching an investigation as a result under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, which applies to countries with trade practices that are deemed unfair to U.S. companies. 'Starting August 1, we will charge Brazil a tariff of 50 percent on any and all Brazilian products sent into the United States, separate from all Sectoral tariffs. 'Goods transshipped to evade this 50 percent tariff will be subject to that higher tariff,' he warned. Trump described the current trade relationship between America and Brazil as 'very unfair' and 'far from reciprocal.' 'Please understand that the 50 percent number is far less than what is needed to have the Level Playing Field we must have with your country.' Brazil's current president Lula responded with a forceful statement warning Trump's tariffs would trigger the country's economic reciprocity law, which allows trade, investment and intellectual property agreements to be suspended against countries that harm Brazil's competitiveness. He noted that the US has had a trade surplus of more than $410 billion with Brazil over the past 15 years. 'Brazil is a sovereign country with independent institutions that will not accept being taken for granted by anyone,' Lula said. Brazil's vice president, Geraldo Alckmin, said he sees 'no reason' for the US to hike tariffs on the South American nation. 'I think he has been misinformed,' he said. 'President Lula was jailed for almost two years. No one questioned the judiciary. No one questioned what the country had done. This is a matter for our judiciary branch.' Trump, too, was indicted in 2023 for his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 US presidential election. Pictured: President Donald Trump greets Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro at the West Wing of the White House prior to meetings in Washington, DC on March 19, 2019. He compared their situations in a Tuesday Truth Social post, writing: 'He is not guilty of anything, except having fought for THE PEOPLE. 'His Election was very close and now, he is leading in the Polls. This is nothing more, or less, than an attack on a Political Opponent — Something I know much about! It happened to me, times 10, and now our Country is the 'HOTTEST' in the World!' The tariffs starting August 1 would be a dramatic increase from the 10 percent rate that Trump levied on Brazil as part of his April 2 'Liberation Day' announcement . Brazil sells oil, orange juice, coffee, iron and steel to the US, among other products. The US ran a $6.8 billion trade surplus with Brazil last year, according to the Census Bureau. Trump initially announced his broad tariffs by declaring an economic emergency , arguing under a 1977 law that the US was at risk because of persistent trade imbalances. But that rationale becomes murky in this particular case, as Trump is linking his tariffs to the Bolsonaro trial and the US exports more to Brazil than it imports. Trump also sent letters Wednesday to the leaders of seven other nations - the Philippines, Brunei, Moldova, Algeria, Libya, Iraq and Sri Lanka. Most economic analyses say the tariffs will worsen inflationary pressures and subtract from economic growth, but Trump has used the taxes as a way to assert the diplomatic and financial power of the US on both rivals and allies. His administration argues the taxes will lower trade imbalances, offset some of the cost of the tax cuts he signed into law on Friday as part of the Big Beautiful Bill and bring factory jobs back to the United States. 'We really haven't had too many complaints because I'm keeping them at a very low number, very conservative as you would say,' Trump said. Officials for the European Union, a major trade partner and source of Trump's ire on trade, said Tuesday that they are not expecting to receive a letter from Trump listing tariff rates . The president started the process of announcing tariff rates on Monday by hitting two major US trading partners, Japan and South Korea, with import taxes of 25 percent. The letters were posted on Truth Social after the expiration of a 90-day negotiating period with a baseline levy of 10 percent. Trump is giving countries more time to negotiate with his August 1 deadline, but he has insisted there will be no extensions for the countries that receive letters. The president threatened additional tariffs on any country that attempts to retaliate.
