The United States Trade Representative, Jamieson Greer, stated this Wednesday (15) that the new tariffs imposed on Brazil were motivated by “serious concerns about the rule of law, censorship and human rights”.
The statement was made at a press conference in Washington, on the eve of the meeting between the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, and the Brazilian Foreign Minister, Mauro Vieira, scheduled for this Thursday (16) in the American capital. Greer is expected to participate in the meeting between Rubio and Vieira.
According to Greer, there are two tariff regimes in force against Brazil. He explained that the first “is the 10% reciprocal tariff on Brazil, which is applied to all countries in the world and is part of our efforts to control the global trade deficit, which is a big problem for us”.
The second, according to Geer, is the additional 40% tariff, “which is under a separate emergency regime”. The measure is related “to serious concerns about the rule of law, censorship and human rights in Brazil”, where, according to the American representative, “a Brazilian judge took upon himself the power to order American companies to self-censor, issuing secret orders to control the flow of information, as well as decisions that affect the application of the law in relation to political opponents in the country”.
The US Secretary of Commerce, Scott Bessent, also commented on the case, mentioning “the illegal detention of American citizens who were in Brazil”, in reference to episodes involving North Americans and citizens with dual citizenship who reported arbitrary actions by the Brazilian justice system.
Bessent did not directly mention what the cases were, but, apparently, he may be referring to cases such as the detention of President Donald Trump’s ally, Jason Miller, who was prevented by Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), from leaving Brazil in 2021 to give testimony, in addition to arrest warrants issued by Moraes against Brazilians currently residing on American soil.
Greer’s speech comes at a time of apparent diplomatic tension, with Chancellor Mauro Vieira having been in Washington since Monday (13) to participate in this Thursday’s meeting. According to information from the G1Itamaraty intends to take the tariffs to the negotiating table with Rubio, although the Brazilian government recognizes that the United States’ focus should be on preparing the future meeting between presidents Lula and Trump.
