Valdemar says Trump “lost his way a little” when taxing Brazil

Valdemar Costa Neto, president of PL, criticized this Tuesday (21.Jul.2026) Donald Trump’s (Republican Party) decision to include Brazil in the North American tariff package. The party leader classified the measure as a “craziness” and defended diplomatic negotiation between the 2 governments as a way to reverse the tariffs.

In an interview with CNNValdemar said that Brazil should not be among the countries taxed by the United States and that the measure represents an exaggeration on the North American part.

“This is crazy, I think Trump is, he’s lost his way a little bit on this and I hope he establishes a better line because Brazil has always been a great partner of the United States”said Valdemar.

The PL president cited an episode that, in his opinion, illustrates the contradiction in Trump’s stance. Senator and presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro (PL) traveled to the United States and met with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump himself. The following day, the North American president announced the taxation of Brazil.

“Volta receives Flávio, who did very well to receive us, and to our surprise the next day he announces that he is going to tax Brazil”said Valdemar.

Despite the criticism, the leader was optimistic about the possibility of reversing tariffs through dialogue. According to him, Brazilians “they don’t deserve it” taxation and the problem can be resolved with understanding between the 2 governments.

“I have no doubt about that. This depends on understanding between the Brazilian government and the American government”he stated. Regarding the North American president’s behavior, Valdemar assessed that his stance has been erratic: “Trump goes, comes back, takes it off, puts it on.”

For Valdemar, the combination of external tariffs and the internal tax burden worsens the situation of Brazilian industry. “As the government is spending a lot, it has to collect money to pay these bills, so it taxes these people who cannot compete with the product that comes from abroad and we lose jobs here because of that”said the leader.

The PL president defended that the central objective in relations with the United States and China should be to attract productive investments to Brazil. “We need them to come and produce in Brazil to create jobs here”concluded Valdemar.