More than 40 Democratic lawmakers urge Trump in a letter to stop his ‘attempts to undermine democracy in Brazil’

More than 40 Democratic members of Congress sent a letter on Thursday to U.S. President Donald Trump condemning his “multiple and unprecedented attempts to undermine democracy in Brazil,” as well as his “failed efforts to shield former Brazilian president [Jair] Bolsonaro from being held accountable for attempting a coup” in January 2023.

The text, which EL PAÍS had access to, focuses on Trump’s use of the threat to impose 50% tariffs on his trading partner, which the members of the House of Representatives who signed the letter describe as “an unlawful misuse of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act” (IEEPA) because to justify it the U.S. president argued that those levies were aimed at addressing an “unsustainable trade deficit.” The lawmakers note that the United States has had “a trade surplus with Brazil every year since 2008.”

The use of the IEEPA is at the heart of the case being considered by the nine justices of the Supreme Court in Washington, who must decide on the constitutionality of the tariffs. Their ruling, which could upend Trump’s entire trade policy, is imminent.

The U.S. president, who included Brazil and its president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, on the list of 25 countries he threatened with new tariffs in letters sent at the beginning of last summer, never concealed his true intentions: to pressure the country’s judges in the case that was then underway against former president Jair Bolsonaro for his involvement in the failed coup of January 2023. For those acts, Brazil’s Supreme Court in Brasília sentenced Bolsonaro last September to 27 years in prison. This Wednesday, the country’s Senate approved a bill to reduce the prison sentences of the former president and the other individuals convicted for the coup attempt.

The letter sent to Trump is an initiative of Representatives Adriano Espaillat (New York) and Linda Sánchez (California). Among the signatories are some of the most prominent members of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Nydia Velázquez (both from New York), Sarah McBride (Delaware), Ilhan Omar (Minnesota), and Greg Casar (Texas).

The text compares the cover Trump tried to give Bolsonaro to spare him his legal troubles with the Republican’s own attempts “evade accountability for the January 6th insurrection in the United States,” the day of the assault on the Capitol. “Further, you erroneously asserted the tariffs were needed allegedly defend ‘free speech’ in Brazil,” the letter adds, referring to the legislation the country recently enacted to curb hate speech and disinformation on social media. “A Brazilian Supreme Court ruling,” the lawmakers note, found that these measures were “inconsistent with Brazil’s Constitution. Launching a trade war with Brazil to settle non-trade issues is unjustified and counterproductive.”

The highest tariff

As a result of those pressures, Trump ended up imposing on Brazil the highest tariff among those levied on dozens of U.S. trading partners, after months of back-and-forth. The lawmakers accuse the president of having “excluded certain Brazilian products” from that high tariff in order to “benefit corporations with close ties to your Administration, including the Brazilian meatpacking giant JBS, which made the single largest donation ($5 million) to your inaugural committee, raising serious concerns that these exclusions may be granted as political payback.”

The letter also criticizes the Republican for invoking the Magnitsky Act to revoke visas and sanction the judges of Brazil’s Federal Supreme Court and their families. “We condemn this explicit attempt to unduly exert pressure on the independent judiciary of another democratic, sovereign nation,” the text warns, noting that Trump’s actions “have only damaged U.S. leadership in the region.” Like other countries, the signatories say, Brazil “has accelerated efforts to distance itself from the United States,” promoting trade agreements with Mexico and Vietnam.

“China has quickly seized on the opportunity to strengthen its ties with Brazil, painting itself as a ‘defender’ of the Global South against the United States, expanding BRICS cooperation, and turning to Brazil to provide key commodities,” the letter continues, warning that Chinese imports of soybeans from Brazil increased by almost 30%, displacing U.S. farmers.

Lula and Trump met in person for the first time in October, after Lula had spent months trying to open a line of dialogue with the Republican to get him to ease the tariffs. They communicated again in early December, against the backdrop of an unprecedented U.S. military deployment aimed at pressuring Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, and days after Lula had publicly offered to mediate with Trump to reduce tensions in the Caribbean.

Last Friday, the United States removed Judge Alexandre de Moraes from the list of individuals sanctioned under the Magnitsky Act. It was the second major unilateral concession by Washington in less than a month, following the easing of tariffs on Brazilian beef, coffee, and much of the country’s imports. This was seen as a blow to Bolsonaro and a triumph for Lula’s strategy — a mix of firmness, diplomacy, and personal charm — an approach that, as has been demonstrated since his return to the White House, continues to work with Trump.