Former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) said on Thursday, 10, that he received a “sense of responsibility” the statement sent by the President of the United States, Donald Trump, about the 50% increase in tariffs applied to Brazilian products.
In a statement, Bolsonaro expressed “respect and admiration for the United States government” and attributed the decision to the foreign policy adopted by the current management of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (PT). “This would never have happened under my government,” he wrote in X.
This was the former president’s first explicit demonstration about the case. In the publication, Bolsonaro asks the powers to act urgently and to have measures to rescue institutional normality. “It is still possible to save Brazil,” he said.
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He also repeated the speech adopted by Trump, saying he was the victim of a “witch hunt” and stating that freedom is at risk in the country. Bolsonaro is a defendant in a criminal action in the Supreme Court (STF) for the attempted coup d’état that culminated in the acts of January 8.
“I know Donald Trump’s firmness and courage in the defense of these principles. Brazil is quickly moving towards isolation and international shame. The escalation of abuses, censorship and political persecution needs to stop. The warning has been given, and there is no more room for omissions,” he said.
On the afternoon of Wednesday, 9, Donald Trump sent a letter to President Lula informing that Brazilian products exported to the United States will be overcoat at 50% from August 1.
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In the text, the US president mentions Bolsonaro’s judicial situation, which he classifies as persecution, and accuses the Supreme Court of illegally censoring American platforms operating in Brazil.
As a reaction, Lula stated that the country’s response will come through the economic reciprocity law, approved by Congress this year. “Any measure of unilateral tariff elevation will be answered in the light of the Brazilian Law on Economic Reciprocity,” he said.
As showed the Estadãowhile right -wing politicians went to endorse the US president’s decision, blaming Minister Alexandre de Moraes, the Supreme, and the Lula administration, governors accuse inconsistency of “patriotic” pockets in defending economic sanctions against their own country.
