By Al Jazeera Staff

Updated on 16 July 2026

This marks the first application of Section 301 tariffs under the White House's new trade strategy, following a yearlong investigation into alleged unfair practices by Brazil.

Washington will impose 25% tariffs on thousands of Brazilian exports, including sugar, clothing, paper, and steel, as part of a broader overhaul of US trade policy.

The new tariffs on Brazil were announced late on Wednesday by the US trade representative. These mark the first set of tariffs under the White House’s new trade strategy using Section 301, a provision in existing US trade law that allows for investigations into so-called unfair trade practices, which the US then uses to justify levies imposed against a country.

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The tariffs, first proposed last month, are scheduled to begin on July 22 and include broad exceptions for products such as beef and coffee, both of which have become pricier for American consumers amid President Donald Trump's ongoing trade disputes.

Beef prices are up 11.8 percent compared with this time last year, according to the most recent Consumer Price Index report released by the US Department of Labor, and coffee is up 12 percent.

Exemptions would also cover some rare-earth materials, aircraft parts and certain oil and gas products.

Despite the US maintaining a growing trade surplus with Brazil – $14.4bn in 2025, up from $7.7bn in 2024 – the new tariffs come amid the conclusion of a yearlong investigation that alleged that Brazil has engaged in unfair trade practices against the US, including on issues related to digital trade and illegal deforestation efforts.

However, Brazilian officials, including President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, have long decried those allegations, suggesting they were politically motivated following the South American nation’s prosecution of former President Jair Bolsonaro, a key Trump ally, for his involvement in a coup attempt.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio pushed back on Lula in a post on X, claiming that the Brazilian leader, who is up for re-election, did not side with the US “in good faith”.

“For the past year, Lula has put his own ego ahead of making a deal for the welfare of the Brazilian people, and these tariffs are the price for that,” Rubio said.

On Thursday, Brazil’s Foreign Affairs Minister Mauro Vieira pushed back on Rubio’s comments, calling them unacceptable and offensive to the Brazilian people. Vieira also said that Lula has been willing to negotiate with Washington from the beginning and that Brazil participated in the investigations despite the alleged political motivation of the White House.

Brazilian presidential hopeful Flavio Bolsonaro, the son of Jair Bolsonaro, asked Trump to delay imposing tariffs until after the upcoming election in October amid allegations by Lula that Bolsonaro lobbied for increased tariffs.

Vieira added that the US sought exclusive openings of “entire sectors” of the country’s economy but “without any reciprocal measures”.

Wave of negotiations

The newly announced tariffs follow a wave of negotiations that included more than 30 meetings between officials from the two countries.

“Extensive negotiations with Brazil over the past year have not resolved these issues, but we remain open to continuing negotiations with Brazil to bring about long-needed changes to the problems identified in this investigation,” US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in a statement.

The newly announced tariffs are the first imposed under Section 301 since the US Supreme Court struck down Trump’s sweeping global tariffs earlier this year. The high court ruled that the president lacked the authority to impose widespread tariffs using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).

The move comes amid comparable trade negotiations with other governments around the world, including the European Union, India, Japan and South Korea.

Brazil has also been included in a separate Section 301 investigation that is set to conclude later this month amid allegations of forced labour in dozens of countries.

Brazilian officials have rejected the allegations as politically motivated, while US Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused President Lula of prioritizing personal ego over negotiation. The exemptions for beef and coffee are notable given recent price increases of 11.8% and 12% respectively, which have strained US consumers amid the broader trade war.