Trump wants to tax steel and aluminum by 25%; Brazil is among the largest exporters

Continuing the protectionist and conflict measures regarding his business partners, the president of the United States, Donald Trump, said on Sunday (9) that he should formalize the 25% tax on steel and aluminum on Monday (10) , which can directly affect Brazil.

On Monday (10), Finance Minister Fernando Haddad stated that “the government has made a decision to only manifest itself due to concrete decisions, not advertisements that can be misunderstood, reviewed. So the government will officially wait for the decision before any demonstration. ”

However, as reported by columnist Monica Bergamo, from S.Paulo FolhaBrazilian authorities would be considering taxing technology companies. The Brazilian government does not aim to establish a “trade war”, but also does not intend to be inert in the face of the measure if it is realized.

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Therefore, one of the counterparts studied is the “digital tax”, the taxation of platforms – an initiative that, incidentally, converges with debates that have been taking place in other countries, such as Canada, and within the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development ). This type of taxation was also being discussed here.

Another plus point used as an argument is that establishing an aliquot on this type of service would not affect the Brazilian industrial chain, so as not to generate inflationary or harmful movements to the general population.

Trump’s possible taxation tends to relevant to Brazilian exports, as the US is the main destination for iron and steel produced in the country.

According to information from Comex Stat – an official system for the extraction of Brazilian foreign trade statistics, managed by the Ministry of Development, Industry, Commerce and Services – in 2024, Brazil exported US $ 6.10 billion of these commodities to the US, main buyer of this item. Secondly, but far away, is China, with $ 1.29 billion.

The US is also the second largest destination in Brazilian aluminum, receiving US $ 267 million. In addition, the three items sold to the US yielded US $ 6.37 billion to Brazil last year.

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It is noteworthy that 48% of steel and almost 17% of aluminum exported by Brazil is destined for the US, according to the Brazil-Eua Chamber of Commerce.

Other countries like Canada, Mexico and South Korea are also among the most affected. With regard to steel, Canadians are the main exporters, with the sale of 6.57 million liquid tons last year, followed by Brazilians (4.5 million), Mexicans (4.18 million) and South Koreans (2.8 million).

In his first term, Trump even imposed 25% steel import rates and 10% on aluminum, but then turned back and revoking the measure.

In addition to these commodities, other Brazilian products and other countries are in Trump’s sights, which could announce new taxes next week, as it signaled that it would establish “reciprocal tariffs”.

With agencies