The U.S. Treasury Department on Wednesday imposed sanctions on Brazilian Supreme Federal Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who has been a target of criticism by President Donald Trump for his handling of legal cases involving former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
The sanctions come five months after Trump’s social media company, Trump Media
, sued de Moraes for over an order by the justice to the video hosting company Rumble to suspend the accounts of a “well-known politically outspoken user” of Rumble, whose services Trump Media uses.
They also come two days before Trump has said he will impose tariffs of 50% on imports from Brazil, which Trump says are partly in retaliation for the ongoing criminal prosecution of Bolsonaro, an ally of his.
De Moraes last year drew the ire of mega-billionaire Elon Musk, who at the time was a close ally over Trump, by blocking Musk’s X social media platform nationwide in Brazil for failing to comply with orders banning some user accounts and to remove certain content.
