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Daily Mail
a day 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.
Russia Today
2 days ago
- Business
- Russia Today
Brazil to defy Trump with push for BRICS cooperation
Brazil plans to strengthen ties with its fellow BRICS nations despite warnings from US President Donald Trump, a senior presidential adviser said on Saturday. Washington had threatened tariffs over the country's relations with the bloc and prosecution of former Brazilian leader Jair Bolsonaro. In an interview with the Financial Times, Celso Amorim stated that the US pressure is 'reinforcing our relations with the BRICS, because we want to have diversified relations and not depend on any one country.' He added that Brazil is also pursuing closer ties with partners in Europe, South America and Asia in order to broaden its diplomatic and economic options. Amorim went on to criticize Trump's actions and pressure as meddling in Brazil's internal affairs, saying the interference dwarfs anything seen 'even in colonial times.' 'I don't think even the Soviet Union would have done anything like this,' he said while denying that BRICS is an ideological group. Earlier this month, Trump threatened to impose tariffs of up to 50% on Brazilian imports, tying them to Brazil's handling of the trial of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who faces accusations of orchestrating a coup following his 2022 election defeat. In addition, Trump threatened an extra 10% levy against countries 'aligning themselves' with the BRICS bloc, which he deemed to be 'anti American.' Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva pushed back, warning Trump that he is not 'the emperor of the world' and that his country would not cave in to demands. The US president has been a fierce critic of the group of emerging economies led by Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. Trump has blasted the bloc over what he described as attempts to 'take over the dollar' stressing that he would spare no effort to preserve its hegemony. Russian officials have said that while BRICS is not pursuing a common currency, 65% of trade among members is now conducted in national currencies. Moscow has also stressed that BRICS was never intended to rival the US, adding that debates about moving away from the dollar are caused by Washington's 'arbitrary' actions.
CTV News
2 days ago
- Politics
- CTV News
To host UN climate talks, Brazil chose one of its poorer cities. That's no accident
NEW YORK — When world leaders, diplomats, business leaders, scientists and activists go to Brazil in November for the United Nations' annual climate negotiations, poverty, deforestation and much of the world's troubles will be right in their faces — by design. In past conference cities — including resort areas and playgrounds for the rich such as Bali, Cancun, Paris, Sharm El-Sheikh and Dubai — host nations show off both their amenities and what their communities have done about climate change. But this fall's conference is in a high-poverty city on the edge of the Amazon to demonstrate what needs to be done, said the diplomat who will run the mega-negotiations in Belem known as COP30, or Conference of Parties. What better way to tackle a problem than facing it head on, however uncomfortable, COP30 President-designate André Corrêa do Lago, a veteran Brazilian diplomat, said in an interview with The Associated Press at United Nations headquarters. 'We cannot hide the fact that we are in the world with lots of inequalities and where sustainability and fighting climate change is something that has to get closer to people,' do Lago said. That's what Brazilian President President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has in mind, he said. 'When people will go to Belem, you are going to see a developing country and city with considerable infrastructure issues still with, in relative terms, a high percentage of poverty and President Lula thinks it's very important that we talk about climate thinking of all the forests, thinking of poverty and thinking of progress,' do Lago said. 'He wants everybody to see a city that can improve thanks to the results of these debates.' The rich and powerful — as well as poorer nations, activists and media — are already feeling a bit of that discomfort even before getting to Belem. Even with two years of notice, Brazil is way behind in having enough hotel rooms and other accommodations for a global conference that has had 90,000 attendees. The official United Nations COP30 website says Brazil would have an official booking portal by the end of April. But specific plans weren't announced till last week when Brazil said it arranged for two cruise ships with 6,000 beds to help with lodging, saying the country is ensuring 'accommodation for all countries' and starting a system where 98 poorer nations have the option to reserve first. Skyrocketing lodging costs are a problem, do Lago conceded. Some places have been charging $15,000 a night for one person and activists and others have talked of cutting back. But he said prices 'are already going down,' even as local media report otherwise. Do Lago said it will be a local holiday so residents can rent out their homes, adding 'a significant supply of apartments.' Big year for climate negotiations This is a significant year for climate negotiations. The 2015 Paris climate agreement required countries to come up with their own plans to reduce the emissions of heat-trapping gases from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas and then to update those plans every five years. This year nearly every nation — the United States, the No. 2 carbon dioxide emitter and historically biggest polluter, withdrew from the accord earlier this year — has to submit their first plan update. Most of those updates are already late, but the United Nations wants countries to complete them by September when world leaders gather in New York. That would give the United Nations time to calculate how much they would curb future climate change if implemented — before the COP six weeks later. UN Secretary-General Antonio-Guterres, in an interview with AP, reiterated what officials want in those plans: that they cover each nation's entire economy, that they include all greenhouse gases and that they are in line with efforts to limit long-term human-caused warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times. That target is the Paris agreement goal. And it's tough since the world is only a couple of tenths of a degree away and last year even temporarily shot past the 1.5 degree mark. Do Lago said he expects the countries' plans will fall short of keeping warming below the 1.5 degree mark, so tackling that gap will be a crucial element of negotiations. Some big things aren't on agenda, like US$1.3 trillion for poorer nations Some of the negotiations' most important work won't be on the formal agenda, including these plans, do Lago said. Another is a road map to provide US$1.3 trillion in financial help to poorer nations in dealing with climate change. And finally, he said, Brazil 'wants very much to talk about nature, about forests.' The nearby Amazon has been an important part of Earth's natural system to suck large amounts of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, but deforestation is a major threat to that. At times, parts of the Amazon have gone from reducing carbon dioxide in the air to increasing it, a 2021 study found. On Wednesday, the United Nation's top court ruled that a clean and healthy environment is a basic human right, a decision that may bolster efforts to come up with stronger action at the November climate conference, some activists said. 'Failure of a state to take appropriate action to protect the climate system ... may constitute an internationally wrongful act,' court President Yuji Iwasawa said during the hearing. Do Lago said the challenge for countries is to think of these emission-reduction plans not as a sacrifice but as a moment to change and grow. 'One of the objectives of this COP is that we hope we will be remembered as a COP of solutions, a COP in which people realized that this agenda is creating more opportunities and challenges,' do Lago said. The Associated Press' climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at Seth Borenstein, The Associated Press
The Independent
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
To host UN climate talks, Brazil chose one of its poorer cities. That's no accident
When world leaders, diplomats, business leaders, scientists and activists go to Brazil in November for the United Nations' annual climate negotiations, poverty, deforestation and much of the world's troubles will be right in their faces — by design. In past conference cities — including resort areas and playgrounds for the rich such as Bali, Cancun, Paris, Sharm El-Sheikh and Dubai — host nations show off both their amenities and what their communities have done about climate change. But this fall's conference is in a high-poverty city on the edge of the Amazon to demonstrate what needs to be done, said the diplomat who will run the mega-negotiations in Belem known as COP30, or Conference of Parties. What better way to tackle a problem than facing it head on, however uncomfortable, COP30 President-designate André Corrêa do Lago, a veteran Brazilian diplomat, said in an interview with The Associated Press at United Nations headquarters. "We cannot hide the fact that we are in the world with lots of inequalities and where sustainability and fighting climate change is something that has to get closer to people,' do Lago said. That's what Brazilian President President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has in mind, he said. 'When people will go to Belem, you are going to see a developing country and city with considerable infrastructure issues still with, in relative terms, a high percentage of poverty and President Lula thinks it's very important that we talk about climate thinking of all the forests, thinking of poverty and thinking of progress,' do Lago said. 'He wants everybody to see a city that can improve thanks to the results of these debates.' The rich and powerful — as well as poorer nations, activists and media — are already feeling a bit of that discomfort even before getting to Belem. Even with two years of notice, Brazil is way behind in having enough hotel rooms and other accommodations for a global conference that has had 90,000 attendees. The official United Nations COP30 website says Brazil would have an official booking portal by the end of April. But specific plans weren't announced till last week when Brazil said it arranged for two cruise ships with 6,000 beds to help with lodging, saying the country is ensuring 'accommodation for all countries' and starting a system where 98 poorer nations have the option to reserve first. Skyrocketing lodging costs are a problem, do Lago conceded. Some places have been charging $15,000 a night for one person and activists and others have talked of cutting back. But he said prices 'are already going down,' even as local media report otherwise. Do Lago said it will be a local holiday so residents can rent out their homes, adding "a significant supply of apartments.' Big year for climate negotiations This is a significant year for climate negotiations. The 2015 Paris climate agreement required countries to come up with their own plans to reduce the emissions of heat-trapping gases from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas and then to update those plans every five years. This year nearly every nation — the United States, the No. 2 carbon dioxide emitter and historically biggest polluter, withdrew from the accord earlier this year — has to submit their first plan update. Most of those updates are already late, but the United Nations wants countries to complete them by September when world leaders gather in New York. That would give the United Nations time to calculate how much they would curb future climate change if implemented — before the COP six weeks later. UN Secretary-General Antonio-Guterres, in an interview with AP, reiterated what officials want in those plans: that they cover each nation's entire economy, that they include all greenhouse gases and that they are in line with efforts to limit long-term human-caused warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times. That target is the Paris agreement goal. And it's tough since the world is only a couple of tenths of a degree away and last year even temporarily shot past the 1.5 degree mark. Do Lago said he expects the countries' plans will fall short of keeping warming below the 1.5 degree mark, so tackling that gap will be a crucial element of negotiations. Some big things aren't on agenda, like $1.3 trillion for poorer nations Some of the negotiations' most important work won't be on the formal agenda, including these plans, do Lago said. Another is a road map to provide $1.3 trillion in financial help to poorer nations in dealing with climate change. And finally, he said, Brazil 'wants very much to talk about nature, about forests.' The nearby Amazon has been an important part of Earth's natural system to suck large amounts of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, but deforestation is a major threat to that. At times, parts of the Amazon have gone from reducing carbon dioxide in the air to increasing it, a 2021 study found. On Wednesday, the United Nation's top court ruled that a clean and healthy environment is a basic human right, a decision that may bolster efforts to come up with stronger action at the November climate conference, some activists said. 'Failure of a state to take appropriate action to protect the climate system ... may constitute an internationally wrongful act,' court President Yuji Iwasawa said during the hearing. Do Lago said the challenge for countries is to think of these emission-reduction plans not as a sacrifice but as a moment to change and grow. 'One of the objectives of this COP is that we hope we will be remembered as a COP of solutions, a COP in which people realized that this agenda is creating more opportunities and challenges,' do Lago said. ___ The Associated Press' climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at
Associated Press
2 days ago
- Politics
- Associated Press
To host UN climate talks, Brazil chose one of its poorer cities. That's no accident
NEW YORK (AP) — When world leaders, diplomats, business leaders, scientists and activists go to Brazil in November for the United Nations' annual climate negotiations, poverty, deforestation and much of the world's troubles will be right in their faces — by design. In past conference cities — including resort areas and playgrounds for the rich such as Bali, Cancun, Paris, Sharm El-Sheikh and Dubai — host nations show off both their amenities and what their communities have done about climate change. But this fall's conference is in a high-poverty city on the edge of the Amazon to demonstrate what needs to be done, said the diplomat who will run the mega-negotiations in Belem known as COP30, or Conference of Parties. What better way to tackle a problem than facing it head on, however uncomfortable, COP30 President-designate André Corrêa do Lago, a veteran Brazilian diplomat, said in an interview with The Associated Press at United Nations headquarters. 'We cannot hide the fact that we are in the world with lots of inequalities and where sustainability and fighting climate change is something that has to get closer to people,' do Lago said. That's what Brazilian President President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has in mind, he said. 'When people will go to Belem, you are going to see a developing country and city with considerable infrastructure issues still with, in relative terms, a high percentage of poverty and President Lula thinks it's very important that we talk about climate thinking of all the forests, thinking of poverty and thinking of progress,' do Lago said. 'He wants everybody to see a city that can improve thanks to the results of these debates.' The rich and powerful — as well as poorer nations, activists and media — are already feeling a bit of that discomfort even before getting to Belem. Even with two years of notice, Brazil is way behind in having enough hotel rooms and other accommodations for a global conference that has had 90,000 attendees. The official United Nations COP30 website says Brazil would have an official booking portal by the end of April. But specific plans weren't announced till last week when Brazil said it arranged for two cruise ships with 6,000 beds to help with lodging, saying the country is ensuring 'accommodation for all countries' and starting a system where 98 poorer nations have the option to reserve first. Skyrocketing lodging costs are a problem, do Lago conceded. Some places have been charging $15,000 a night for one person and activists and others have talked of cutting back. But he said prices 'are already going down,' even as local media report otherwise. Do Lago said it will be a local holiday so residents can rent out their homes, adding 'a significant supply of apartments.' Big year for climate negotiations This is a significant year for climate negotiations. The 2015 Paris climate agreement required countries to come up with their own plans to reduce the emissions of heat-trapping gases from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas and then to update those plans every five years. This year nearly every nation — the United States, the No. 2 carbon dioxide emitter and historically biggest polluter, withdrew from the accord earlier this year — has to submit their first plan update. Most of those updates are already late, but the United Nations wants countries to complete them by September when world leaders gather in New York. That would give the United Nations time to calculate how much they would curb future climate change if implemented — before the COP six weeks later. UN Secretary-General Antonio-Guterres, in an interview with AP, reiterated what officials want in those plans: that they cover each nation's entire economy, that they include all greenhouse gases and that they are in line with efforts to limit long-term human-caused warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times. That target is the Paris agreement goal. And it's tough since the world is only a couple of tenths of a degree away and last year even temporarily shot past the 1.5 degree mark. Do Lago said he expects the countries' plans will fall short of keeping warming below the 1.5 degree mark, so tackling that gap will be a crucial element of negotiations. Some big things aren't on agenda, like $1.3 trillion for poorer nations Some of the negotiations' most important work won't be on the formal agenda, including these plans, do Lago said. Another is a road map to provide $1.3 trillion in financial help to poorer nations in dealing with climate change. And finally, he said, Brazil 'wants very much to talk about nature, about forests.' The nearby Amazon has been an important part of Earth's natural system to suck large amounts of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, but deforestation is a major threat to that. At times, parts of the Amazon have gone from reducing carbon dioxide in the air to increasing it, a 2021 study found. On Wednesday, the United Nation's top court ruled that a clean and healthy environment is a basic human right, a decision that may bolster efforts to come up with stronger action at the November climate conference, some activists said. 'Failure of a state to take appropriate action to protect the climate system ... may constitute an internationally wrongful act,' court President Yuji Iwasawa said during the hearing. Do Lago said the challenge for countries is to think of these emission-reduction plans not as a sacrifice but as a moment to change and grow. 'One of the objectives of this COP is that we hope we will be remembered as a COP of solutions, a COP in which people realized that this agenda is creating more opportunities and challenges,' do Lago said. ___ The Associated Press' climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at
