Pressuring Brazil

Editor's note: The following text is a transcript of a podcast story. To listen to the story, click on the arrow beneath the headline above.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: It's Thursday the 7th of August.

This is WORLD Radio and we’re glad you’ve joined us today. Good morning, I’m Myrna Brown.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard.

First up on The World and Everything in It: tariffs come for Brazil.

Last week, the White House singled out Brazil for what it calls “Human rights abuses that have undermined the rule of law.” President Trump imposed 50% tariffs on South America’s largest economy.

BROWN: He didn’t stop there. He also ordered sanctions against one of its Supreme Court justices. Why?

WORLD reporter Emma Freire reports.

SOUND: [COURTROOM]

EMMA FREIRE: On Friday August 1st, the Supreme Court of Brazil opened for legal business as usual. But there was nothing normal about the day. All eyes were on Justice Alexandre de Moraes. Just two days earlier, the Trump administration imposed 50 percent tariffs on many Brazilian products and sanctioned de Moraes. De Moraes gave prepared remarks and he grew visibly angry—vowing to ignore the measures.

ALEXANDRE DE MORAES: O rito processual do Supremo Tribunal Federal irá ignorar as sanções praticadas.

On July 28th, the Trump administration revoked US visas for de Moraes, his allies on the court, and their immediate families. And then on July 30th they went even further and sanctioned de Moraes under the Global Magnitsky Act. That’s a 2012 law that lets the US impose economic sanctions on individuals it deems guilty of human rights violations or corruption. Here’s Gabriel de Arruda Castro, an associate professor of international relations at Cedarville University.

GABRIEL CASTRO: The law is clear and also very tough. Any person or business who operates in the United States cannot sell or buy from Alexandre de Moraes or send money to him or get money from him in.

Brazilian banks have said they are getting legal advice to determine how the sanctions will affect their operations.

Why is Trump focused on Brazil? The issues go back several years to when the Trump administration claims de Moraes launched a massive campaign of censorship. He took on sweeping new powers to investigate fake news and slander against Brazil’s Supreme Court.

CASTRO: We have this peculiar situation in which Alexandre de Moraes is both in charge of the investigations. He is also in charge of judging the same people he's investigating. And also one of the victims because some of those threats or attacks against the Supreme Court were targeting him specifically.

De Moraes issued hundreds of orders to social media platforms to censor posts or accounts, some belonging to US citizens. That led to a showdown with Elon Musk, the owner of X, who tried to defy the orders. In the fall of 2024, De Moraes ordered X shut down in Brazil for about a month until Musk backed down.

The Trump administration is also angry about the treatment of Brazil’s former right-wing President, Jair Bolsonaro. Bolsonaro lost his bid for reelection in 2022 by less than 2 percent of the vote. He was defeated by the far-left Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva, who is widely called Lula. Bolsonaro questioned the results. And one week after Lula’s inauguration, some Bolsonaro supporters stormed government buildings in Brazil’s capital city of Brasilia.

CASTRO: So it all happened on a Sunday. Therefore all buildings were empty. There were no acts of violence against individuals, against authorities in general. But there were many acts of vandalism, of violence against the buildings or the institutions themselves.

De Moraes ruled the event an attempted coup. He imposed harsh prison sentences not only on protestors who invaded buildings but also on Bolsonaro supporters who were camping nearby.

CASTRO: It's very clear that crimes were committed on January 8, just looking at the pictures or watching the videos, that becomes evident. However, it's hard to argue that that was a coup attempt. That would be a big leap.

Bolsonaro has also been charged with plotting to overthrow the results of the 2022 election. De Moraes is personally overseeing Bolsonaro’s trial.

The similarities between Bolsonaro’s electoral defeat in 2022 and Trump’s in 2020 have not been lost on President Trump. In July, he spoke out in Bolsonaro’s defense.

On July 30th, the Trump administration imposed a total 50 percent tariff on some products imported from Brazil…higher than the tariffs for most other nations. Around 700 products are exempt. But others like beef and corn will be hit hard.

Tiago Albrecht is a city council member in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, which has a large agricultural sector. He believes de Moraes has been acting like a tyrant. But he fears the burden of the tariffs will fall on ordinary Brazilians.

TIAGO ALBRECHT: I think to my state, those tariffs will be just awful for the businesses and they are forecasting a 50,000 job, loss of jobs. 50,000 people might lose their work spots.

De Moraes is not backing down. In fact, on Monday, he placed Bolsonaro under house arrest.

When it comes to the Brazilian people, council member Albrecht says they are deeply divided over the Trump administration’s recent moves.

ALBRECHT: I would say a half of the country is not happy at all with those, both tariff and Magnitsky sanctions. The right-wing where I do pertain. We are actually happy with the Magnitsky because it goes to de Moraes as a person. Not to the court, but the tariffs, they were bad things, even to the right wing.

Albrecht believes part of the blame also lies with President Lula, who is an outspoken proponent of the BRICS group of developing nations. President Trump has said he believes the BRICS group was set up to harm America and the US dollar.

But Albrecht is happy that Trump is concerned about the direction that Brazil is headed.

ALBRECHT: I see that Trump does not want to see Brazil become another Venezuela that the Western world lost to the communist routine and block. So I think Trump wants Brazil to stay and remain in the western side of the force.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Emma Freire.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.