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Brazil’s Supreme Court Rejects US Sanctions as Trump Tariffs Loom

Justice Alexandre de Moraes has affirmed the court’s independence despite US-imposed visa bans paired with financial penalties

A worker during a coffee harvest in Jacutinga, Brazil, on July 31, 2025.
Demonstrators wearing masks in the likeness of, from left, Sao Paulo's Governor Tarcisio de Freitas, U.S. President Donald Trump and Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro protest the 50% U.S. tariff on Brazilian goods outside the U.S. consulate in Sao Paulo, Friday, Aug. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)
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Demonstrators carry a sign that reads in Portuguese "The trash can of history, together" and photos of U.S. President Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Sao Paulo's Governor Tarcisio de Freitas, Sao Paulo's Mayor Ricardo Nunes and Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro during a protest against a 50% U.S. tariff on Brazilian goods outside the U.S. consulate in Sao Paulo, Friday, Aug. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

Overview

  • De Moraes presided over former President Jair Bolsonaro’s coup trial on Friday, stressing that the court “will not bow” and will continue its proceedings uninterrupted.
  • President Trump’s executive order taking effect August 6 imposes 50% tariffs on Brazilian exports under emergency trade powers.
  • In July, the US revoked de Moraes’s visa and applied Global Magnitsky Act sanctions against him for alleged human rights abuses.
  • Efforts by de Moraes and President Lula to unify the Supreme Federal Tribunal faltered when only six of eleven justices attended a solidarity dinner.
  • Protesters in São Paulo, Brasília and Rio de Janeiro burned effigies of Trump and Bolsonaro to denounce perceived US meddling in Brazil’s judiciary.