Brazil’s Lula vows response after US announces new tariffs
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Friday said Brazil would not accept any other country “disrespecting” the nation as he commented on a the trade dispute with the United States.
The U.S. said Wednesday it would impose a new 25% tariff on certain imports from Brazil, citing unfair trade practices by the world’s 10th-largest economy.
Brazil has described the tariffs as unjust and politically motivated, threatening to impose reciprocal measures on U.S. products.
Speaking during a visit to a mobile women’s health unit in Rio de Janeiro on Friday, Lula said the event should focus on Brazil’s public health system rather than the trade dispute.
“When Trump speaks, I’ll speak,” he said.
He later added that Brazil “does not accept any other country in the world disrespecting Brazil.”
Brazil’s government said the decision hits about 3,000 items, but it is yet to decide whether and how it could retaliate with a law its Congress passed in 2025 in response to President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
In a statement, Lula’s office has refuted the U.S. allegations of unfair trade practices.
It said 76% of imports from the U.S. entered Brazil duty-free in 2025 and said the average tariff effectively applied to U.S. products was only 3.1%.
It said it has taken steps to impose reciprocal tariffs, along with other trade-related countermeasures, through its own law and through the World Trade Organization’s dispute settlement mechanism.
