Trump makes new threat of 50% tariff on Brazil as his trade letter tally reaches 22

Donald Trump released another round of letters to trade partners on Wednesday, including a threat of a 50% tariff on Brazil over what the president describes as a witch hunt of Jair Bolsonaro.

The former Brazilian president is facing a trial for his role in trying to overturn the results of his country’s 2022 election and is charged with participating in a plot to refuse to give up power after he lost re-election.

The letter from Trump called the trial an "international disgrace" that shouldn't be happening.

And it was one of 8 letters Trump posted on Wednesday that included other threats of rates ranging from 20% to 30% on nations from the Philippines to Moldova set to take effect on Aug. 1.

The additional letters released Wednesday included 30% rates for Algeria, Iraq, Libya, and Sri Lanka; 25% rates for Brunei and Moldova; and a 20% rate for the Philippines.

Outside of Brazil, the Philippines was the biggest announcement Wednesday with that nation ranking about 30th in US trading partners by value, according to US government data.

President Donald Trump and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro speak during a dinner at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach in 2020. (JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images) · JIM WATSON via Getty Images

But the focus on Brazil could prove the most politically and economically significant as Trump has taken a keen interest in the fate of Bolsonaro — who is a longtime and vocal supporter who even endorsed Trump in 2020 while he was in office.

Brazil is also the biggest trading partner among the letters Trump posted Wednesday.

Wednesday's letter to Brazil diverged in key ways from Trump's other letters released this week but also offered a message that was present throughout the day that everything is up for negotiation between now and the implementation date of Aug. 1.

"These Tariffs may be modified, upward or downward, depending on our relationship with your Country" Trump wrote in the Brazil letter addressed to current president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva — the man who defeated Bolsonaro in that 2022 election.

The current Brazilian leader had previously pushed back on Trump's pressure around Bolsonaro — which has been ongoing for days even before the tariff threat Wednesday — by reportedly saying Brazil is sovereign and "does not accept interference or tutelage from anyone."

Other tariff letters

Outside of Brazil, the letters Wednesday continued a trend of announcements this week of rates that largely tracked what were first announced in April, with some alterations.

The Philippines, for example, saw its proposed rate jump slightly from 17% to 20%. Moldova saw a decrease from 31% to 25% and Algeria saw their rate unchanged at 30%.

President Trump was also asked Wednesday how he came to his new tariff rates with the president responding it "was a formula based on common sense, based on deficits, based on how we've been treated over the years, and based on raw numbers."

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In April, Trump came up with his tariff rates purely based on trade deficits.

Those other factors clearly came into play with Brazil, that faced 10% tariffs in Trump's April announcement but are now facing a rate of 5 times that.

This latest flurry of pronouncements comes on top of 14 letters issued Monday and during a week that has seen a surge in bellicose new rhetoric from the president including the announcement of new 50% tariffs on copper.

But markets have largely ignored the news after one of the first moves from the president this week was to push ahead his "reciprocal" tariff deadlines by about three weeks via executive action.

"Trade negotiations take time, and the notion you're going to be simultaneously negotiating with dozens of countries just really limits the bandwidth of the negotiating teams," Wendy Cutler, a former trade negotiator currently at the Asia Society, said in a live Yahoo Finance appearance Wednesday.

"Aug. 1 now is the next deadline," she added, "and even though the president is saying there'll be no more further extensions, I think our trading partners are beginning to realize that this may go on and on and on."

Read more: The latest news and updates on Trump's tariffs

Little progress on deals

Also damping the potential effect was that Wednesday's series of letters — which appeared in sequence on Truth Social starting a little after 11:30 a.m. ET — lacked any signs of progress on deals with India and the EU, as arrangements with two of the US's major trading partners remain outstanding.

The chances of a deal with Europe got more complicated after Trump said on Tuesday, "We are probably two days off from sending them a letter." European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen offered early Wednesday morning that Europe would continue to negotiate, but "we get ready for all scenarios."

President Trump is seen during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on July 8. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images) · Andrew Harnik via Getty Images

Read more: 5 ways to tariff-proof your finances

This was all after a deadline delay that, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, came at the request of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who said he could secure trade deals with more time.

The new timeline clearly dampened any market effects this week.

"The markets watched it all with as much interest as watching reruns on TV," quipped Edward Yardeni in a note to clients about developments so far before this latest letter release. "President Donald Trump huffed and puffed again. The financial markets' reaction was ho-hum."

Skepticism also appeared to deepen further on Wednesday on the question of whether the terms in Trump's letters would indeed be in place in August after Trump trade counselor Peter Navarro offered on Fox Business Wednesday morning that these letters are being absorbed well by markets because they understand "these are all negotiations as we move in time."

This story has been updated with additional developments.

Ben Werschkul is a Washington correspondent for Yahoo Finance.

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