President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs were supposed to raise billions of dollars in government revenue while reviving American manufacturing. Instead, after a Supreme Court ruling forced the Trump administration to reimburse much of the money it collected, it’s now looking for workarounds to impose tariffs anyway.
One such workaround will take effect later this month, when the Trump administration imposes 25% tariffs on many imports from Brazil. The fresh tariffs, announced this week, arrived after the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative conducted a yearlong investigation under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 that concluded Brazil had engaged in unfair trade practices.
The move revives a battle the Trump administration has waged specifically against Brazil since last year, when the White House imposed tariffs totaling 50% on certain Brazilian imports after Brazil’s former president, Jair Bolsonaro, was accused of leading a conspiracy to overturn his reelection loss in 2022. Bolsonaro was later sentenced to 27 years in prison.
Still, the administration’s actions against Brazil may also be the beginning of an alternate plan to implement tariffs in line with the President’s wishes despite the questionable effectiveness of such duties so far, experts say.
