Trump accused of ‘attack on Brazilian democracy’ for sanctioning Bolsonaro judge while slapping a 50% levy on the country – key US politics stories from Wednesday 30 July
Donald Trump’s administration has imposed sanctions against the judge overseeing the prosecution of his far-right ally Jair Bolsonaro and hit Brazil with huge tariffs amid accusations from the country’s president that Trump has launched “a direct attack on Brazilian democracy”.
The US president has partly attributed his 50% tariff to his outrage at the supposed political “witch-hunt” against Bolsonaro, the former Brazilian president, who is on trial over an alleged coup attempt after the 2022 election.
Amid a blitz of tariff announcements, Trump also hit India with a 25% levy and an extra “penalty” because it buys arms and energy from Russia, while imposing a 15% rate on South Korea as part of a trade deal that avoids even higher levies.
Domestically, experts say they have “enormous concerns” with a Trump administration initiative for millions of Americans to upload personal health data and medical records on new apps and systems run by private tech companies.
