The meeting between the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Brazil, Mauro Vieira, and the American Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, which took place on Thursday in Washington, increased the Brazilian government’s expectation that the United States will be able to ease tariffs in the coming days. On the other hand, Brasília believes that the sanctions applied against Brazilian citizens, including Federal Supreme Court (STF) minister Alexandre de Moraes, will be more difficult to be overturned in the short term. In political mathematics, the justification for a possible retreat could compromise Rubio and other members of Donald Trump’s government with their electoral bases.
The hour-long meeting took place at the State Department headquarters and began with a private conversation between Vieira and Rubio, followed by an expanded meeting with diplomats from both delegations. After the meeting, the Brazilian chancellor stated that the discussion dealt with a general framework to guide the negotiations and estimated that a provisional understanding could be signed in November, so that broader negotiations can advance at the beginning of 2026. The Brazilian government proposes the temporary suspension of tariffs until an agreement can be reached.
The current movement is seen by members of the government as a direct result of the conversation between President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and American President Donald Trump in Malaysia two weeks ago. The two leaders decided to unlock the bilateral political agenda and reopen the technical dialogue on trade.
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According to Mauro Vieira, the Brazilian government sent a proposal to Washington on November 4th. The chancellor said he expected a response soon. The content of the document is confidential. According to interlocutors familiar with the matter, Brazil is asking for the suspension of tariffs while negotiations take place, which could take around 90 days, or for an increase in the number of products free from tariffs.
In July of this year, Trump announced a 50% surcharge on Brazilian products, which came into force in August, and used as his main justification the situation of former president Jair Bolsonaro before the Brazilian Judiciary. The new tariff affects products such as meat, coffee, fruit, fish, orange juice and industrial machinery. The effects were immediate: while Brazil’s trade deficit with the USA totaled US$234 million in the entire year 2024, only in October — the third month of the tariff — the negative balance reached US$1.7 billion. In the first ten months of 2025, the accumulated deficit already reaches US$6.8 billion.
The US imposed sanctions on Alexandre de Moraes based on the Global Magnitsky Law, determining the freezing of assets, financial restrictions and a ban on entry into the country. The measures also affected his wife, Viviane Barci de Moraes, and the Lex Institute, linked to the family, which were also subjected to asset freezing and impediments to maintaining relations with American citizens and companies.
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In addition to economic sanctions, Washington moved forward on another front: revoking visas for Brazilian authorities. Among those affected are ministers of the STF — Luís Roberto Barroso, Flávio Dino, Gilmar Mendes, Dias Toffoli, Cristiano Zanin, Cármen Lúcia and Edson Fachin —, the attorney general of the Union, Jorge Messias, and the attorney general of the Republic, Paulo Gonet.
The Brazilian government maintains that the measures lack economic justification, as the US continues to record a surplus in bilateral trade even after the tariffs came into force. Furthermore, Brasília is trying to prevent the dispute from deepening within the scope of Section 301 of the American Trade Law, which investigates topics such as digital commerce, intellectual property, financial services and the use of Pix as an instant payment system.
