Trump rates Brazil and becomes the target of Nobel: “megalomaniac and demonic”

American economist Paul Krugman, winner of the Nobel Prize of Economics, classified as “megalomaniac” and “demonic” the 50% rates announced by Donald Trump about Brazilian exports. In a letter to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the former US president justified the measure in response to Jair Bolsonaro’s trial in Brazil, which Krugman considers a “witch hunt.”

In article published in SubstackKrugman stated that “Trump does not even disguise that there is an economic justification for his decision” and denounces what he calls “dictator protection program.” For him, it is an attempt to “punish Brazil for taking [o ex-presidente] Jair Bolsonaro to a trial. ”

Trump went straight into the letter sent to Lula by saying that “how Brazil has treated former President Bolsonaro […] It is an international shame. This judgment should not be happening. It’s a witch hunt that should run out immediately! ”

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Krugman sees the measure as a distorted use of commercial policy, breaking with the postwar tradition that associated free trade with the strengthening of democracy. “Now Trump tries to use tariffs to help another dictator. If you think the US is one of the” good young men “in the world, this last decision shows the side we are today.”

Despite the severity of rhetoric, Krugman minimizes the practical impact of the decision on the Brazilian economy. According to him, the US represents only 11.4% of exports in Brazil, weighing less than 2% in national GDP. “Trump really believes you can use rates to intimidate a huge nation that doesn’t even depend on the American market, to abandon democracy?” He asks.

The economist also suggests that in a functional democracy, “this bet against Brazil would in itself be a basis for impeachment.”

With the new tariff package expected to take effect on August 1, the fear of a diplomatic clash between Brazil and the US – with direct implications for Trump’s presidential campaign and international trade relations.

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With information from BBC