'Won't accept tutelage': Brazil's Lula hits back at Trump, warns of reciprocity levies after 50% US tariff

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva slammed his US counterpart, Donald Trump, as he pledged to impose reciprocal tariffs on American goods. Lula made the remarks hours after Trump slapped the Latin American nation with 50 per cent of trade tariffs . A diplomatic row between the two nations started to brew after Trump condemned the prosecution of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro .

“Any measure to unilaterally raise tariffs will be responded to in accordance with Brazil’s Economic Reciprocity Law,” Lula’s office said in a statement.

The Brazilian president went on to reject Trump’s demand that the legal proceedings against Bolsonaro be dropped. In his statement, Lula also rejected Trump’s argument that 50 per cent tariffs on Brazilian goods are necessary to close the deficit. Lula emphasised that such a deficit does not exist.

US vs Brazil: A new trade war ensues

In his statement, Lula noted that the sovereignty of Brazil should not be challenged. “Brazil is a sovereign nation with independent institutions and will not accept any form of tutelage,” Lula began.

He emphasised that the case against Bolsonaro falls, “exclusively under the jurisdiction of Brazil’s Judicial Branch and, as such, are not subject to any interference or threats that could compromise the independence of national institutions”.

The Brazilian president, who was a former trade unionist, went on to correct Trump’s claim that the US run a trade deficit with Brazil. “Statistics from the U.S. government itself show a surplus of $410 billion in the trade of goods and services with Brazil over the past 15 years,” Lula noted.

It is pertinent to note that Brazil passed the Economic Reciprocity Law back in April. The country wrote the law specifically to prepare for the possibility of Trump imposing tariffs on the biggest economy in Latin America.

The law in question authorises the legislative branch, in coordination with businesses, to “adopt countermeasures in the form of restrictions to the importation of goods and services or measures to suspend concessions in the areas of trade, investments, and obligations related to intellectual property rights, as well as measures to suspend other obligations foreseen in any of the country’s trade agreements”.

Threats from Trump came days after he called the BRICS, a group of emerging economies founded in 2009 by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, “ an anti-American body ”, which he intends to demolish through tariffs.

Lula was asked for his response at a BRICS summit in Rio. “The world has changed. We don’t want an emperor,” he said. “If he thinks he can impose tariffs, other countries have the right to impose tariffs too,” the Brazilian leader averred.