President Donald Trump on Thursday moved to slash the 40 percent tariffs he had imposed on Brazilian food products, including beef, coffee, cocoa and fruits. The tariffs were implemented after Brazil’s left-wing government moved to imprison former President Jair Bolsonaro on controversial charges amid an ongoing crackdown on political opposition.
The move follows a similar order from the president last Friday, which removed tariffs on several agricultural products in an effort to lower grocery prices for American consumers.
Thursday’s order will affect Brazilian exports to the United States on or after November 13, and may require a full refund of any duties collected on the affected goods while the tariffs were still in effect, Reuters reported.
Brazil typically supplies about a third of the coffee imports entering the United States, and more recently has become a significant exporter of beef, typically the type used to make burgers. “You can expect some thousand bags of Brazilian coffee that were sitting in bonded warehouses to start moving quickly to U.S. roasters,” said commodities analyst Judith Ganes, president of J. Ganes Consulting.
Bonded warehouses are storage facilities where exporters can store merchandise temporarily without paying duties. Several retailers had stored products in such facilities after the tariffs were announced in hopes of the tariffs being reduced.
“The decision (to lift Brazil tariffs) shows the effectiveness of the trade negotiations,” said Brazilian beef industry group ABIEC, adding it will continue to work to increase its share in the market.
Thursday’s decision represents a potential thaw in U.S.-Brazil relations after spats between the country’s far-left government and the Trump Administration. Some tariffs still remain in effect, however.
Trump signed a series executive actions back in July that, among other things, imposed a 50 percent tariff on Brazil, a 50 percent tariff on certain copper products and closed a tax perk for all countries that allowed them to ship cheap packages to the U.S. duty-free.
The president had previously threatened to slap new tariffs on Brazil in a letter to current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, which referenced his government’s authoritarian crackdown on political opponents, including former President Jair Bolsonaro. The former Brazilian leader is facing an investigation and an upcoming trial accusing him of leading an “attempted coup” to stay in office after his controversial electoral defeat in 2022.
After Bolsonaro was narrowly defeated, he held a number of rallies in which he argued that the election was stolen due to widespread voter fraud. He opted not to use the military to challenge the results, defying calls from some hardliners. About a week after Lula took office, supporters of Bolsonaro trashed the nation’s Supreme Court Building in a protest similar to the January 6 Capitol protests.
A number of protesters have been sentenced to decades in prison for what amount to petty vandalism and trespassing charges, while hundreds more are expected to stand trial. In one instance, Débora Rodrigues dos Santos, a mother of two who had no prior offenses, was sentenced to 17 years in prison for writing “you lost, loser” on a statute outside the Supreme Court building. The Lula government has also arrested dozens of additional lawmakers, pundits and opposition figures while others have been forced to flee the country.
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