On Wednesday, President Donald Trump wrote a letter to Brazilian President Luiz Ignacio Lula de Silva announcing that the U.S. was imposing a 50% tariff on all imported goods from the South American country – and revealed that his reason for doing so was more political than economic.
In the letter — which was written in Trump's signature style of randomly capitalized letters and all-caps adjectives – Trump began by attacking the ongoing trial of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is being charged with attempting a coup to stay in power after losing his reelection bid. He called the trial "an international disgrace" and a "Witch Hunt that should end IMMEDIATELY" before pivoting to the tariff announcement.
"In addition, we have had years to discuss our Trading Relationship with Brazil, and have concluded that we must move away from the longstanding, and very unfair trade relationship engendered by Brazil's Tariff, and Non-Tariff, Policies and Trade Barriers," the letter read. "Our relationship has been, unfortunately, far from Reciprocal. Please understand that the 50% number is far less than what is needed to have the Level Playing Field we must have with your Country. And it is necessary to have this to rectify the grave injustices of the current regime."
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Bespoke Investment micro strategist George Pearkes debunked Trump's claims about the United States' trade relationship with Brazil, pointing out that the U.S. actually has a trade surplus with the G20 economy. He further opined that the letter was an attempt "to steal the sovereignty of Brazil."
"[T]here's really no other way to describe this," Pearkes wrote. "It's an effort to overthrow their domestic political institutions."
Progressive organizer Murshed Zaheed lamented on Bluesky that Trump was using "CAPS LOCK in official White House letter[head]" while "also interfering with domestic affairs of a democratically elected government of a sovereign nation." Film editor Michael Sweeney commented that the letter was "barely literate," while author Bea Caicoya commented that Trump's letter "reads as if it was written by a fifth grader high on [1990s cartoon] Pinky and the Brain."
"Lawless authoritarianism at home. Stealing sovereignty abroad. But only for this One Special Boy, because we've decided nothing matters & no one else who swore oaths needs to do their damn jobs," wrote University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor Mark Copelovitch. "It's maddening & unserious & we should stop it."
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