President Donald Trump said Friday he will speak to Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva at some point, after Trump threatened to impose 50% tariffs on Brazilian exports.
"Maybe at some point I'll talk to him. Right now I'm not," Trump said as he left the White House to visit flood-ravaged Texas, again criticizing Brazil's legal proceedings against former right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro.
Trump's remarks came as Lula told Record TV in an interview aired late Thursday that "we'll first try to negotiate, but if there's no negotiation, the law of reciprocity will be put into practice." Brazil's government projected the tariffs to have little impact on its economic growth this year, which it expects to reach 2.5%, as only some specific manufacturing sectors would be hard hit.
The U.S. is a large importer of Brazilian oil, steel products, pulp, coffee, orange juice and beef - goods that the government said could find other global buyers. "Given this scenario, the impact of the tariffs tends to be of little significance on 2025 growth, although some manufacturing sectors may be particularly affected," Brazil's Finance Ministry said in a report. Those include the
Lula had already vowed to find new buyers for Brazil's products, saying that "it is not like we cannot survive without the U.S."
Economic Policy Secretary Guilherme Mello told reporters that even if "some" effects are felt on growth, they would not be as relevant as before, saying that Brazil managed to diversify its trade partners over the past two decades. Roughly 12% of Brazil's exports go to the U.S., while top trading partner China accounts for around 28%. The Asian superpower on Friday also slammed Trump's tariffs on Latin America's largest economy.
"Tariffs should not be used as a tool for coercion, bullying, or interference in other countries," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a press conference in Beijing.
But exporters were concerned about the impact of Trump's new tariffs. The head of Brazil's beef industry group ABIEC said the levies would make it "economically unfeasible" for the South American country to export beef to the U.S. Still, in a letter to Lula on Wednesday, Trump left few options for Brazil to respond when he linked the tariffs to the country's judiciary launching legal proceedings against Bolsonaro, who is on trial on charges of plotting a coup to stop Lula from taking office in 2023. Trump on Friday repeated his defense of Bolsonaro. "They're treating President Bolsonaro very unfairly," he said.
In an interview with TV Globo, Lula said he found Trump's reasoning for the tariffs "extremely outrageous."
Lula said he could not accept that Trump was calling for an end to proceedings against a man who "didn’t just try to stage a coup. He tried to prepare my death." Bolsonaro denies any wrongdoing. Brazilian assets remained under pressure on Friday, with the real currency down 0.7% versus the dollar, and the local stock index off by 0.5%.
© 2025 Thomson/Reuters. All rights reserved.