SAO PAULO
\n\u200cBrazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called new US tariffs unfair and a strategic mistake in a Sunday opinion column for The Washington Post, warning they would harm the countries\u2019 bilateral partnership and drive up costs for US consumers.
\n\u201cThis month, disregarding dozens of meetings between our teams, solid technical arguments, and documents I personally handed to President Trump, the US government imposed new tariffs on Brazil \u200cranging from 12.5 \u200cpercent to 37.5 percent,\u201d Lula wrote.
\nThe \u200cnew duties follow the US Supreme Court striking down last year\u2019s 50 percent tariffs, Lula noted, adding that food, footwear, textiles, furniture, auto parts, and many other products will become more expensive for US consumers. The US Embassy in Brazil did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the column.
\nLula also cited \u200cGlobal Trade Alert, \u200can independent organization based in Switzerland, as saying that Brazil \u200cand Turkiye are now the second most heavily \u200ctariffed countries by the United States, behind only China. This is despite a US trade surplus with Brazil in goods and services that totaled $428 billion over 15 consecutive years, \u200cLula said.
\nIn the opinion piece, published the day after Trump ally and conservative presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro launched his campaign, Lula noted that Brazilian exports to the US have hit their lowest level since 1997. \u201cIn the medium term, these tariffs will disrupt supply chains that are currently deeply integrated, and Brazilian companies will replace their US suppliers with partners elsewhere,\u201d Lula said.
\nBrazil is open to a constructive dialogue with the US, Lula said, but the country must decide its own future. \u201cBrazil\u2019s destiny is for Brazilians alone to determine \u2014 without foreign interference or subservience,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SAO PAULO \u200cBrazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called new US tariffs unfair and a strategic mistake in a Sunday opinion column for The Washington Post, warning they would harm the countries\u2019 bilateral partnership and drive up costs for US consumers. \u201cThis month, disregarding dozens of meetings between our teams, solid technical arguments, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-558646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-top-news"],"yoast_head":"\n