Trump’s Food Tariff Gesture Leaves Brazil Still Paying A Heavy Price
The United States has just softened its food tariffs, and on paper Brazil looks like a winner. In reality, it is still paying a special price for a political fight it did not start – and that matters for anyone who drinks coffee, eats beef or invests in Latin America.
Washington recently removed a 10% “reciprocity” tax on around 200 imported food products, including Brazilian coffee, beef, açaí and mango.
That sounds generous. But a separate, much heavier 40% penalty aimed mainly at Brazilian goods remains fully in force, keeping total tariffs on many products at 40%.
Brazil’s vice-president, Geraldo Alckmin, called the move “positive” but “insufficient.” His complaint is simple: competitors like Colombia and Vietnam have seen tariffs cut more deeply, or in some cases erased altogether.
Brazil, the world’s largest coffee producer and a major meat supplier, is still treated as if it were the problem rather than a key partner.
Brazil-US tariffs hit specialty exports and raise trade uncertainty
The details explain the frustration. The tariff change slightly increases the share of Brazilian exports to the US that are fully free of extra duties, from 23% to 26%, worth about $10 billion in trade.
Yet of 80 agricultural products that benefit, only four – three types of orange juice and Pará nuts – are completely exempt. The other 76 still run into the 40% wall.
Specialty coffee is one of the clearest casualties. After the earlier tariff shock, Brazil’s higher-quality beans lost ground in the US market, hurting growers, cooperatives and exporters who had invested in quality and branding rather than subsidies or protection.
At the same time, Brazil’s trade deficit with the US has widened sharply as exports fell and imports rose. Behind all this is a blunt lesson: tariffs are now being used not only to protect jobs but to send political messages.
That creates uncertainty for companies that plan investments over decades and for countries that try to compete by improving productivity instead of lobbying for favors.
For expats and foreign readers, this is more than a dispute between Brasília and Washington. It shapes what you pay at the supermarket, who gets your money, and whether trade rules reward open competition or political muscle.
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