Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has launched a stinging rebuke against what he calls "tariff blackmail," as the South American nation grapples with a 50 percent import duty imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump. Lula’s condemnation came during a virtual summit of BRICS leaders on September 8, 2025, a gathering that drew in heads of state and senior officials from China, Russia, South Africa, India, and several other emerging economies. The meeting, which Lula himself convened, was dominated by concerns over escalating U.S. trade practices—practices that have upended economic relations and sent shockwaves through global markets.
"Tariff blackmail is being normalized as an instrument for market conquest and to interfere in domestic affairs," Lula declared, according to remarks released by the Brazilian presidency and cited by AFP and Bloomberg. He argued that the imposition of such extraterritorial measures not only threatens Brazilian institutions but also restricts the country’s freedom to strengthen trade ties with friendly nations. "Our countries have become victims of unjustified and illegal trade practices," he added, rallying the BRICS bloc to stand united in defense of multilateralism and fair trade.
The U.S. tariffs, which target a broad swath of Brazilian exports, have already had a dramatic impact. According to Al Jazeera, Brazil’s exports to the United States plunged 18.5 percent year-on-year in August 2025, just after Trump’s highest-ever tariffs came into effect. The economic blow has been swift and severe, prompting Lula’s government to weigh retaliatory trade measures and to seek the intervention of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to resolve the dispute.
At the heart of the controversy lies a tangled web of politics and international law. The tariffs, widely seen as punitive, are linked to the ongoing trial of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who stands accused of plotting a coup to reclaim power after his defeat by Lula in the 2022 elections. Trump, a vocal supporter of Bolsonaro, has framed the Brazilian trial as a "witch hunt," and has made it clear that the tariffs are a form of retribution. "The reasons given to impose sanctions against Brazil do not exist," Lula asserted, rejecting Washington’s justifications and emphasizing the independence of Brazil’s judiciary. "The executive has no role in Supreme Court decisions," he said, attempting to draw a line between politics and the rule of law.
Complicating matters further, the U.S. has also imposed sanctions on several Brazilian officials, including Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who is presiding over Bolsonaro’s trial. A ruling in the case is expected by September 12, 2025, and the outcome could have far-reaching consequences for both Brazilian democracy and its trade relations with the United States.
The BRICS summit itself unfolded against a backdrop of mounting geopolitical tension. China’s President Xi Jinping, speaking at the same virtual gathering, warned that "trade wars are severely impacting the world economy and seriously undermining international trade rules," according to Xinhua and Bloomberg. Xi called for the BRICS nations to strengthen cooperation in trade, finance, and technology, suggesting that unity among the bloc’s members is the best antidote to external risks and challenges. "No matter how the international situation changes, we must remain steadfast in promoting the building of an open global economy, sharing opportunities and achieving win-win results through openness," Xi said.
India, too, has felt the sting of U.S. trade measures. Last month, Trump doubled tariffs on Indian goods to as high as 50 percent, citing India’s continued imports of Russian oil. India’s Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi both spoke out during the BRICS summit, criticizing the rise of trade barriers and the linking of trade measures to non-trade matters. "Increasing barriers and complicating transactions will not help. Neither would the linking of trade measures to non-trade matters," Modi said, according to a statement from India’s Foreign Ministry.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa echoed these concerns, noting that developing nations are facing "great hardships and danger" as a result of trade upheaval. He called on BRICS to play a critical role in strengthening the multilateral system, a sentiment that resonated throughout the summit.
Lula, for his part, has sought to cushion the blow to Brazil’s exporters. Last month, he unveiled the "Sovereign Brazil" plan—a year-long program worth 30 billion reais (about $5.5 billion)—aimed at supporting businesses hit hardest by the U.S. tariffs. He described the initiative as "a first step" to safeguard local producers, but warned that more may be needed if the trade standoff drags on.
Yet the trade dispute is only one facet of a broader diplomatic rift. Lula also criticized the recent U.S. military deployment in the Caribbean, which includes eight warships armed with missiles and a nuclear-powered submarine operating near Venezuela. "The presence of the armed forces of the world’s largest power in the Caribbean Sea is a factor of tension incompatible with the region’s vocation for peace," Lula said, referencing the 1968 Treaty of Tlatelolco, which established Latin America and the Caribbean as a nuclear weapons-free zone. Tensions in the region escalated further last week after U.S. forces destroyed an alleged drug vessel, killing 11 people that Washington identified as linked to the Tren de Aragua criminal organization.
Throughout his remarks, Lula emphasized the importance of defending multilateralism "with one voice" in international forums, especially at the United Nations. He called on BRICS to support Brazil’s longstanding bid for an expanded UN Security Council—a goal the country has pursued for decades. "It is up to BRICS to show that cooperation overcomes any form of rivalry," Lula said, striking a hopeful note amid the uncertainty.
The BRICS bloc, founded in 2009, has grown to include 11 emerging economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, Indonesia, and Iran. Together, these countries account for nearly half of the world’s population, around 30% of global economic output, and one-fifth of global trade, as Xi Jinping pointed out. The group’s leaders see their solidarity as a bulwark against what they describe as the resurgence of unilateralism and the risks it poses to international trade and development.
As the virtual summit drew to a close, there was a sense that the battle lines had been drawn—not just between Brazil and the United States, but between competing visions of how the global economy should be governed. Whether BRICS can truly forge a new path for multilateralism in the face of mounting protectionism remains to be seen, but for now, Lula and his allies are making it clear: they will not back down in the face of what they see as economic coercion.