US Sets 25% Tariffs on Select Brazilian Goods Effective July 22

American consumers and Brazilian exporters face higher costs starting next week as the United States prepares to apply 25 percent tariffs on most imports from Brazil. The duties target a range of goods while sparing items such as coffee, beef, orange juice, aircraft parts and certain energy products to limit immediate price pressure inside the United States.

The action rests on a year-long investigation conducted by the Office of the United States Trade Representative under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. Officials identified Brazilian measures that include orders directing U.S. technology companies to remove political content, weak intellectual-property enforcement, barriers to American ethanol, and preferential tariff treatment granted to Mexico and India. A senior administration official also cited inadequate enforcement against illegal deforestation, which the United States says gives Brazilian producers an unfair cost advantage.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva rejected the tariffs as unjustified. He pointed to a cumulative U.S. goods-and-services surplus with Brazil of $424.5 billion over the past 15 years and said his government would pursue countermeasures under Brazil’s Reciprocity Law and raise the matter at the World Trade Organization. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer stated that negotiations over the past year had failed to resolve the identified practices, though talks remain open. Secretary of State Marco Rubio attributed the impasse to a lack of good-faith engagement by Lula.

The tariffs take effect July 22. A separate U.S. investigation into forced-labor enforcement could add another 12.5 percent duty, with a decision expected soon. The move follows a February Supreme Court ruling that curtailed earlier tariff authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Lula has linked the timing to Brazil’s October presidential election and accused Senator Flávio Bolsonaro of influencing the decision after a Washington visit; the senator denied any role.