'Extraordinary threat': Trump takes action against foreign government

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday to impose major tariffs on Brazil due to the “unusual and extraordinary threat” Brazil currently poses to the national security, economy, and foreign policy of the United States. 

In Wednesday’s executive order, Trump wrote, “I find that the unprecedented actions taken by the Government of Brazil have violated the free expression rights of United States persons, interfered with the economy of the United States….subverted the interest of the United States in protecting its citizens and companies, undermined the rule of law in Brazil, and jeopardized the orderly development of Brazil‘s political, administrative, and economic institutions.”

As part of his executive order, Trump invoked the International Emergency Powers Act of 1977 to declare a national emergency and impose an additional 40% tariff on imports from Brazil. Prior to the president’s executive order on Wednesday, the United States already had a 10% tariff on goods imported from Brazil. 

The president’s executive order came as the Treasury Department also issued sanctions against Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes on Wednesday. 

“Alexandre de Moraes has taken it upon himself to be judge and jury in an unlawful witch hunt against U.S. and Brazilian citizens and companies,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. “De Moraes is responsible for an oppressive campaign of censorship, arbitrary detentions that violate human rights, and politicized prosecutions—including against former President Jair Bolsonaro.” 

In a fact sheet accompanying Trump’s executive order on Wednesday, the White House explained that the Brazilian government has taken “unprecedented actions” to force American companies to censor political speech, provide sensitive U.S. user data, remove American users from various platforms, and change content moderation policies under the threat of “extraordinary fines, criminal prosecution, asset freezes, or complete exclusion from the Brazilian market.”

“President Trump is defending American companies from extortion, protecting American persons from political persecution, safeguarding American free speech from censorship, and saving the American economy from being subject to the arbitrary edicts of a tyrannical foreign judge,” the White House stated. 

The White House added, “By imposing these tariffs to address the Government of Brazil’s reckless actions, President Trump is protecting the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States from a foreign threat.”