The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mauro Vieira, stated this Thursday (16) that the United States government’s decision to impose 50% tariffs on Brazilian products is politically motivated and classified the statements made by the American Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, against Brazil as “unacceptable” and “offensive”. According to the chancellor, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) sought dialogue since the beginning of the crisis, but faced demands considered “unmeasured” during the negotiations.
When refuting the justifications presented by Washington for the adoption of the tariffs, Vieira directly associated the measure with the letter sent by President Donald Trump to the Brazilian government, in which the Republican conditioned the suspension of the surcharge on the interruption of the legal process against former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL).
The minister also criticized the publication made by Marco Rubio on social media during the early hours of the morning. According to Vieira, the Secretary of State “crudely and arrogantly attacks the head of state of a friendly country” and shows concern with the stance adopted by Brazil in the negotiations.
“Clearly what bothers the United States government is the fact that Brazil has not bowed to the unreasonable claims and unreasonable demands presented during the course of the negotiations,” he declared.
According to the chancellor, among the demands made by the Americans was the “total, unrestricted and exclusive” opening of entire sectors of the Brazilian economy to companies from the United States, without any compensation for Brazilian products. “In other words, they demanded capitulation,” he said.
Vieira also challenged the commercial argument used by Washington to justify the measures. According to him, the United States accumulated a surplus of US$424 billion in the balance of goods and services with Brazil over the last 15 years. Furthermore, he stated that, in 2025, 76% of US imports entered the Brazilian market without paying import taxes, including eight of the ten main products exported by the US to Brazil.
Source: www.brasildefato.com.br
