US to impose new 25 percent tariffs on some Brazilian imports

Beef, coffee, and rare-earth materials escaped US tariffs amid trade tensions with Brazil over alleged unfair practices.

The United States is set to impose 25 percent duties on thousands of Brazilian imports, including sugar, apparel, paper, and steel, as the White House revamps its tariff policy. The new tariffs on Brazil were announced late on Wednesday by the US trade representative. These mark the first set of tariffs under the White House's new trade strategy using Section 301, a provision in existing US trade law that allows for investigations into so-called unfair trade practices, which the US then uses to justify levies imposed against a country.

The tariffs, which were proposed last month, are set to take effect on July 22, and will include a broad range of exceptions for products, including beef and coffee — both of which have become more expensive for US consumers over the last year amid US President Donald Trump's trade war. Beef prices are up 11.8 percent compared with this time last year, according to the most recent Consumer Price Index report released by the US Labor Department, and coffee is up 12 percent. Exemptions would also cover some rare-earth materials, aircraft parts, and certain oil and gas products.

Despite the US maintaining a growing trade surplus with Brazil, $14.4bn in 2025, up from $7.7bn in 2024, the new tariffs come amid the conclusion of a yearlong investigation that alleged that Brazil has engaged in unfair trade practices against the US, including on issues related to digital trade and illegal deforestation efforts. However, Brazilian officials, including President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, have long decried those allegations, suggesting they were politically motivated, following the South American nation's prosecution of former President Jair Bolsonaro, a key Trump ally, for his involvement in a coup attempt.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio pushed back on Lula in a post on X, claiming that the Brazilian leader, who is up for re-election, did not side with the US "in good faith". "For the past year, Lula has put his own ego ahead of making a deal for the welfare of the Brazilian people, and these tariffs are the price for that," Rubio said. The newly announced tariffs follow a wave of negotiations that included more than 30 meetings between officials from the two countries.

"Extensive negotiations with Brazil over the past year have not resolved these issues, but we remain open to continuing negotiations with Brazil to bring about long-needed changes to the problems identified in this investigation," US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in a statement.