【Text by Observer Net, Qi Qian】Brazil is reported to have taken action to retaliate against the United States.
According to Reuters on August 28, two sources revealed that Brazil's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has instructed the Brazilian Foreign Trade Commission (Camex) to start analyzing whether it can use local "retaliation laws" to counter U.S. actions. Previously, U.S. President Trump threatened to impose a 50% tariff on Brazilian goods.
This year, the Brazilian Congress passed a bill that established a legal framework allowing Brazil to respond to possible unilateral trade measures against its goods and services, including tariffs.
The report said this move would mark Latin America's largest economy upgrading its retaliatory actions against Trump's tariff threats. Previously, Brazil had initiated dispute consultations with the World Trade Organization (WTO) over the tariff issue.
The two sources said that shortly before this process was launched, President Lula authorized the use of the "retaliation law" to retaliate against the United States.
They revealed that Camex has 30 days to submit a report on this matter. If the "retaliation law" is approved, a government task force will decide which areas in the United States Brazil should take measures against. They added that the U.S. government is expected to learn about this on the 29th local time.
Lula and Trump
Due to issues such as tariffs, the Bolsonaro case, and de-dollarization, relations between Brazil and the United States have become increasingly tense, with disputes escalating between the two countries.
Bolsonaro served as president of Brazil from 2019 to 2022 and was a close ally of Trump. After losing his re-election campaign in October 2022, Bolsonaro claimed there was "electoral fraud." In January 2023, some of his supporters stormed Brazil's Congress, Supreme Court, and presidential palace, clashing with law enforcement officers. Following this, Bolsonaro faced criminal charges for allegedly planning a coup.
On July 30, the Trump administration announced plans to impose tariffs of up to 50% on Brazilian export products. Earlier this month, Trump also called Brazil a "bad trade partner" and criticized the trial of Bolsonaro as a "political witch hunt."
AFP reported that the additional tariffs imposed by the United States affected multiple major exports of Brazil, the largest economy in Latin America, completely destroying the trade relationship between the two countries that had lasted for centuries and Brazil's $284 million trade surplus last year.
Reuters cited informed sources who said that what truly "angered" Trump was Brazil's long-term efforts within the BRICS group to "de-dollarize." "You can feel that whenever the president sees the BRICS group's efforts to de-dollarize, he gets very angry," said Steve Bannon, the White House chief strategist during Trump's previous term. "This Rio meeting made him even more angry."
Lula revealed on August 6 that he planned to first call China and India to discuss how the BRICS group could jointly respond to the tariffs imposed by Trump.
On August 26, during a cabinet meeting, Lula and a group of officials wore blue hats reading "Brazil belongs to Brazilians" - Brazilian media
"The U.S. government acts as if it were the emperor of the Earth, which is absurd," Lula said on the 26th local time, once again strongly criticizing the Trump administration and vowing that Brazil is willing to negotiate with the United States under equal conditions, and will not accept being treated as a "subordinate."
According to the Brazilian newspaper "Folha de S.Paulo," Lula criticized U.S. President Trump's actions in imposing tariffs on Brazilian products, the situation in Gaza, and other interventions in Brazil's internal affairs during the cabinet meeting held that day. Lula and Brazilian ministers also wore a blue hat reading "Brazil belongs to Brazilians" as a response to the "Make America Great Again" (MAGA) group.
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