The new tariff from the United States to Brazil comes into force and Lula da Silva’s government studies how to respond

The levy, announced last week, is the result of an investigation by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), which concluded that certain Brazilian policies are “unfair” and harm the interests of American companies.

Among these practices he cited the PIX automatic payment system, obstacles to accessing certain Brazilian markets, such as automobiles or fuel, the fight against corruption, intellectual property laws and illegal deforestation.

It is estimated that the new additional fee will affect 18% of Brazilian exports to the United States, although some trade associations raise the impact to about a third.

The hardest hit products will be industrial machines, sugar, ethanol, wood and footwear.

Nevertheless, Trump exempted some 2,100 products from the tariff, including meat, coffee, oil, and aircraft manufacturing parts.orange juice and rare earths, inputs of extreme importance for its domestic market.

Meanwhile, Lula’s government is evaluating options for responding.

At first, announced that it was going to “immediately” activate the procedures planned to adopt retaliation, included in the so-called ‘Reciprocity Law’, approved in April 2025 by Parliament.

But the Brazilian vice president, Geraldo Alckmin, and several ministers were responsible for lowering the tone in the following days and reinforcing that The priority is to support the affected companies.

Some national productive sectors have already expressed to the Executive that they do not support entering into an escalation of tariffs with the United States, one of Brazil’s largest trading partners.

The Lula Administration takes note and continues to commit to negotiating with the North American power.

“The idea is not retaliation. They say ‘an eye for an eye’ and what can happen is that both of them go blind. Reciprocity means saying: ‘Look, we are being subjected to an injustice and we want to correct it; we have instruments to do it at the right time and in the right way,'” Alckmin told reporters on Tuesday.

The vice president labeled “unfair and unfounded” the arguments on which the new tariff is based and recalled that Washington has a large trade surplus with Brazil.

Nevertheless, The situation could worsen in the coming days, since Brazil is one of the 60 countries that are under investigation by the US for alleged use of forced labor in their production chains, which could culminate in an additional tariff of 12.5%.

For his part, Lula has only spoken about the matter on his social networks.

Last week he assured that he will only speak out when Trump, with whom he has already spoken in person and by phone several times in the last year, publicly explains the reasons for the new ‘rate’.

“When Trump speaks, I will speak. If Trump does not speak, I will not speak because we are going to show that, when it comes to Brazil, no one wins by lying,” the president said last Friday, at an event in Rio de Janeiro.

The tariff also comes at a time when the country is preparing for the presidential elections in October, for which Lula will seek a fourth non-consecutive term. His main rival is Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, eldest son of former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, a Trump ally. For now, the polls predict a narrow victory for Lula in a second round.