The government of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has petitioned the World Trade Organization for consultations to help alleviate the steep tariffs imposed on Brazil by the United States.
Sources within the Brazilian government confirmed the petition on Wednesday to news outlets like AFP and The Associated Press, on condition of anonymity.
The aim is to seek relief from the 50 percent tariff that US President Donald Trump slapped on Brazilian exports in response to the country’s prosecution of a former far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro.
That tariff — the highest Trump has imposed on any country in August — took effect on Wednesday. India, meanwhile, is expected to face 50 percent tariffs later this month, unless a deal is struck beforehand.
A request for consultations is usually the first step in the World Trade Organization’s trade dispute process. The organisation functions as an international arbiter in economic disputes, though its procedures for negotiating settlements can be lengthy and inconclusive.
Brazilian Vice President Geraldo Alckmin has estimated that 35.9 percent of the country’s exports to the US will be subject to the stiff taxes. That equals about 4 percent of Brazil’s total exports worldwide.
Retaliation over Bolsonaro prosecution
Trump unveiled the current tariff rate on July 9, in a letter addressed to Lula and published online.
Unlike other tariff-related letters at the time, Trump used the correspondence to launch into a barbed attack on the Brazilian government for its decision to prosecute Bolsonaro, an ally, over an alleged coup attempt.
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“The way that Brazil has treated former President Bolsonaro, a Highly Respected Leader throughout the World during his Term, including by the United States, is an international disgrace,” Trump wrote.
Just as Trump did after his 2020 electoral defeat, Bolsonaro had publicly cast doubt on the results of a 2022 presidential race that saw him lose to Lula.
But behind the scenes, police and prosecutors allege that Bolsonaro conspired with his associates to overturn the results of the election.
One possible scenario was to declare a “state of siege” during Bolsonaro’s final days as president, as a means of calling up the military and suspending civil rights. Then, a new election would have been called, according to prosecutors.
Another idea allegedly floated among Bolsonaro’s allies was to poison Lula.
But Trump, who likewise faced criminal charges in the past for allegedly attempting to subvert the outcome of a vote, has defended Bolsonaro, calling the prosecution politically biased.
“This trial should not be taking place,” he wrote in the July 9 letter. “It is a Witch Hunt that should end IMMEDIATELY!”
Several weeks later, on July 30, Trump followed up his tariff threat with an executive order that doubled down on his accusations.
Not only did Trump accuse Brazil of “politically persecuting” Bolsonaro, but he added that Brazil was guilty of “human rights abuses”, including the suppression of free speech, through its efforts to stem disinformation on social media.
“Recent policies, practices, and actions of the Government of Brazil threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States,” Trump wrote.
“Members of the Government of Brazil have taken actions that interfere with the economy of the United States, infringe the free expression rights of United States persons, violate human rights, and undermine the interest the United States has in protecting its citizens and companies.”
Lula speaks out
The executive order, however, included an annex that indicated certain products would not be subject to the new US tariffs. They included nuts, orange juice, coal, iron, tin and petroleum products.
Lula has claimed that Trump is impeding attempts to negotiate a trade deal between their two countries, a sentiment he repeated in an interview on Wednesday with the news agency Reuters.
“The day my intuition says Trump is ready to talk, I won’t hesitate to call him,” Lula told Reuters. “But today my intuition says he doesn’t want to talk. And I’m not going to humiliate myself.”
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The three-term, left-wing president explained that he saw Trump’s tariff threats as part of a long history of US intervention in Brazil and Latin America more broadly.
“We had already pardoned the US intervention in the 1964 coup,” Lula said, referencing the overthrow of a Brazilian president that sparked a two-decade-long military dictatorship
“But this now is not a small intervention. It’s the president of the United States thinking he can dictate rules for a sovereign country like Brazil. It’s unacceptable.”
Lula added that he plans to bolster Brazil’s “national sovereignty” by reforming its mineral extraction policy to boost the local economy.
With the US tariffs in play, Lula also explained that he would reach out to members of the BRICS economic trading bloc, named for its founding members: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Trump, however, has threatened any BRICS-affiliated country with an additional 10-percent tariff.
Lula has been on an English-language media blitz since Trump announced the latest his latest slate of tariffs in July, warning that consumers across the world will be penalised.
Late last month, for instance, Lula gave his first interview to The New York Times newspaper in nearly 13 years.
When the Times asked what his reaction would be to the tariffs taking effect, Lula expressed ambivalence.
“I’m not going to cry over spilled milk,” he said. “If the United States doesn’t want to buy something of ours, we are going to look for someone who will.”