White House Targets Brazil Over Pix, Blusinhas Tax and Social Media

RioTimes Business | Series: US-Brazil Trade

The US Trade Representative’s annual trade barriers report dedicates eight pages to Brazil, targeting the state-run Pix payment network, a proposed digital competition law, small-parcel import taxes, and social media regulation — as Colombia’s president seizes the moment to call for Pix adoption across Latin America.

What the USTR Said — and Why It Matters

Released on 31 March, the USTR’s 2026 National Trade Estimate (NTE) Report on Foreign Trade Barriers dedicates eight substantive pages to Brazil — the most detailed US government critique of Brazilian commercial policy in recent years. The document feeds directly into a Section 301 investigation launched by the Trump administration in July 2025, which could eventually produce targeted tariffs on Brazilian goods. According to CNN Brasil, the chapter endorses every complaint already on the table in that investigation.

Pix: A National Asset Meets US Corporate Interests

Pix is Brazil’s real-time payment network, launched by the Central Bank (Banco Central do Brasil, BCB) in November 2020 and now used by more than 175 million people — roughly 91% of Brazil’s adult population. It processes over BRL 3 trillion (approximately USD 557 billion) in transactions every month at zero cost to users, and has brought an estimated 70 million previously unbanked Brazilians into the formal financial system, according to ClearingPost.

The USTR’s objection is structural: because any financial institution with more than 500,000 accounts must participate in Pix, and because the BCB both operates and regulates it, US stakeholders argue the system enjoys an inherently preferential position. Washington’s concern is commercial — Pix’s zero-fee, instant-settlement model erodes the transaction revenue that Visa, Mastercard, and other US payment networks collect in Brazil. The NTE report stops short of demanding Pix’s closure, but frames mandatory participation as an unfair trade barrier, per ClearingPost’s analysis of the report.

President Lula was unequivocal in his response: “O PIX é do Brasil, e ninguém vai fazer a gente mudar o PIX” — “Pix belongs to Brazil, and nobody will make us change Pix.” The BCB, meanwhile, is pushing in the opposite direction, actively planning an international Pix that would allow cross-border transactions across Latin America and beyond, according to Bitcoin News.

The Blusinhas Tax: Brazil’s Own Import Friction

The USTR report also targets what Brazilians call the “taxa das blusinhas” — the blouse tax — a reference to the flood of cheap apparel from Asian e-commerce platforms that prompted Brazil to close a longstanding loophole. Under the current regime, purchases of up to US$50 attract a 20% federal import tax plus 17% state sales tax (ICMS), while purchases over US$50 face a flat 60% federal tariff. The Receita Federal also caps individual importers at US$100,000 per year on the simplified customs channel and limits export values at US$10,000 and imports at US$3,000, as cited in CNN Brasil’s reading of the USTR document.

For investors, the irony is notable: Brazil introduced this import tax to protect domestic manufacturers such as Renner, C&A, and Riachuelo — the very kind of industrial policy the US often applauds at home. Washington’s complaint is that it harms American exporters and platforms selling into Brazil, adding to a broader pattern of what the USTR describes as “relatively high” tariffs averaging 12.5% on industrial goods and 9% on agricultural products in 2024.

Social Media and Digital Competition: The Third Front

The NTE report also flags Brazil’s proposed digital markets bill, PL 4.675, sent to Congress by the Lula administration in September 2025. The legislation would empower the CADE (Brazil’s antitrust body) to designate companies with more than R$5 billion in annual Brazilian revenue — or R$50 billion globally — as having “systemic relevance,” subjecting them to ex-ante obligations and potential fines of up to 20% of global turnover. The USTR warned that US tech companies would be “disproportionately” affected, according to CNN Brasil.

Petro’s Unexpected Intervention

The most geopolitically striking development came not from Brasília but Bogotá. On 6 April, Colombian President Gustavo Petro posted on X in direct response to reports of US pressure on Brazil, writing: “Le pido a Brasil extender el sistema PIX a Colombia” — “I ask Brazil to extend the PIX system to Colombia.” According to G1 Globo, Petro went further, attacking OFAC — the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control — as an instrument of political coercion rather than genuine anti-narcotics policy, and arguing that a Latin American payments network operating outside US rails would better serve the region.

For fintech and trade watchers, Petro’s statement signals something significant: the Pix dispute is no longer a bilateral US-Brazil matter. It is becoming a rallying point for Latin American governments seeking financial infrastructure that bypasses dollar-centric networks. The BCB is already planning international Pix extensions, having piloted the system in Argentina, the US, and Portugal. Colombia’s public interest accelerates a dynamic that Washington will find difficult to contain through trade pressure alone.

What to Watch

The Section 301 investigation is due to reach its final stage within months. If the Trump administration proceeds with Pix-specific tariff measures — a significant escalation — the political blowback inside Brazil would be severe, potentially boosting Lula’s approval ratings ahead of the 2026 elections while unifying the region around the Pix model. For investors, the key risk is a tit-for-tat tariff spiral that complicates Brazil’s export outlook beyond e-commerce and into agriculture, steel, and petrochemicals — sectors already watching the investigation closely.