The announcement of Donald Trump’s tariff to Brazil quickly won the spotlight in the national and international press between this Wednesday and Thursday (10), causing a stormy reaction from the Lula administration, which promised “reciprocity” in his measures.
The type of confrontation like the petista did not generate a positive outcome to other countries that followed the same way by raising the tone against the White House leader since “Liberation Day”, when Trump announced taxes on imports of dozens of nations, including Brazil, which would initially have to pay 10% taxes on their products entering the United States. Now this number has risen to 50%.
See other countries that lost disputes when facing Trump
On April 2, President Donald Trump released his tariff agenda for the world. The main affected country at the time was the Chinawhich even had its exports taxed by 145% by the United States.
Like the Lula administration, the Xi Jinping regime announced that it would retrieve the measure with reciprocity, a situation that translated into a kind of commercial embargo between the two largest economic powers in the world.
After months of fighting, Trump convinced the Chinese dictator to negotiate a trade agreement. In May, they reached a “truce” in which Washington promised to reduce their rates from 145% to 30%, and Beijing from 125% to 10%, with a period of 90 days to negotiate a new commercial pact. Analysts estimate that the average rate on products imported from China is around 40% to 50% at the moment.
Although apparently resolved the embargo, China and the United States follow in a kind of cold war, in which hostilities and indirect threats remain alive.
In May, the month following the announcement of Trump’s tariff agenda, Chinese exports to the United States had a record 35%, the highest since February 2020. In the same month, factories in the Asian giant began to feel the impact of tariffs with official seijing reports pointing a 5.8% slowdown in industrial production in the first five months of the year.
But Trump’s first tariff threat that worked in his second term was made against Colombiaa week after his inauguration, when the leftist president of the South American country, Gustavo Petro, rejected the White House migratory policy saying that he would not receive illegal immigrants deported.
Trump then imposed sanctions against Colombia. Among the measures adopted by the United States was an emergency rate of 25% over all products from the Latin American country, which would be adjusted to 50% the following week.
On the morning of January 27, Petro turned back and agreed to receive the unlawful illegal immigrants deported from the United States. At the time, the White House published a statement informing about the resolution of the impasse with the “unrestricted acceptance of all unlawful foreigners of Colombia returned from the United States, including military aircraft, without limitations or delays.” Almost immediately, President Gustavo Petro republished the US statement without comments, implying that he totally validated it, although it deleted it minutes later without explanation.
Another country that rejected a trade agreement along the lines of Trump, at first, was the Canadawhich came close to undermine negotiations with the US government due to a recent impasse on the taxation of American big techs. At the end of last month, Trump even suspended his long dialogue in the area of trade with the Canadian government because of this divergence.
However, two days later, Canada turned back in their commercial posture and eliminated taxes on US companies. At the time, Prime Minister Mark Meatary stated that he would resume negotiations with Trump after reversing his intention to apply new taxes to the giants of American technology.
Canada and the United States have been longtime business partners, however, since returning to the White House, Trump seeks to reform agreements held with various countries, including the neighboring nation.
The day after Trump’s announcement about the tariff in April, Canada said it would respond to reciprocal policy with 25% tax export taxes from the United States that were not in accordance with USMCa’s USMCa-Treed Treaty Standards, also known as T-MEC.
That day, Carry even stated that the “ancient relationship of continuous and deep integration with the US was over” and that “although” it is a tragedy, it is also the new reality. ” Subsequently, the Canadian government retreated and began to seek a new trade agreement with the Americans.
