Beef, coffee and rare earth materials have escaped U.S. tariffs amid a trade dispute with Brazil over alleged misconduct.
The United States plans to impose 25% tariffs on thousands of Brazilian imports, including sugar, clothing, paper and steel, as the White House reviews its tariff policy.
The new tariffs on Brazil were announced late Wednesday by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. These are the first tariffs under the White House’s new trade strategy, which takes advantage of Section 301, a provision of existing U.S. trade law that allows the U.S. to investigate so-called unfair trade practices, which the U.S. uses to justify levies it imposes on a country.
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The tariffs, proposed last month, are scheduled to take effect July 22 and would include broad exceptions for products such as beef and coffee, both of which have become more expensive for U.S. consumers over the past year amid President Donald Trump’s trade war.
Beef prices are up 11.8% compared to the same time last year, and coffee prices are up 12%, according to the latest Consumer Price Index report released by the U.S. Department of Labor.
Some rare earth materials, aircraft parts, and certain oil and gas products are also exempt.
The new tariffs were announced at the end of a year-long investigation alleging that Brazil engaged in unfair trade practices against the United States, including on issues related to digital trade and illegal deforestation activities, even as the United States maintains a widening trade surplus with Brazil from $7.7 billion in 2024 to $14.4 billion in 2025.
But Brazilian officials, including President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, have long denounced the allegations, suggesting they were politically motivated, after the South American nation indicted former President Jair Bolsonaro, a key ally of Trump, for his role in the coup attempt.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio fired back at Lula in a post on X, claiming that the Brazilian leader, who is seeking re-election, is not standing by the United States “in good faith.”
“For the past year, Mr. Lula has put his ego ahead of securing a deal that benefits the welfare of Brazilians, and these tariffs are the price to pay for that,” Rubio said.
The newly announced tariffs were announced after a series of negotiations that included more than 30 meetings between officials from both countries.
“While extensive negotiations with Brazil over the past year have not resolved these issues, we remain ready to continue negotiating with Brazil to bring about long-needed changes to the issues identified in this investigation,” U.S. Trade Representative Jamison Greer said in a statement.
The newly announced tariffs are the first to be imposed under Section 301 since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down President Trump’s sweeping global tariffs earlier this year. The high court has ruled that the president does not have the authority to use the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose broad tariffs.
The move comes amid similar trade negotiations with other governments around the world, including the European Union, India, Japan and South Korea.
Brazil is also the subject of a separate Section 301 investigation scheduled to conclude later this month amid allegations of forced labor in dozens of countries.
