White House defends tariffs on Brazil despite trade surplus

Source: ABC News

July 13, 2025, 11:31 AM


National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett defended President Donald Trump’s newly unveiled 50% tariff against Brazil, the United States’ second-largest trading partner, saying the move is part of the administration’s broader global tariff strategy.

Speaking with ABC News' "This Week" co-anchor Jonathan Karl, Hassett said that the president has the authority to impose new tariffs if he thinks there is a national defense emergency or a national security threat -- though Trump’s letter to Brazil highlighted the ongoing criminal case against his political ally, former President Jair Bolsonaro. “So how is it a national security threat ... how Brazil is handling a criminal case against its former president?” Karl asked.

“Well, that's not the only thing,” Hassett said. “The bottom line is that what we're doing absolutely, collectively across every country is we're onshoring production in the U.S. to reduce the national emergency, that is, that we have a massive trade deficit that's putting us at risk should we need production in the U.S. because of a national security crisis,” he added.

“But again, as we've just established, we have a trade surplus with Brazil, not a deficit,” Karl noted.

Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/ThisWeek/white-house-defends-tariffs-brazil-despite-trade-surplus/story?id=123707996