Former Brazilian President Jea Bolsonaro told the news agency of the federal senators in Brazil on July 17, 2025.
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On Thursday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he would “respond to what he called a “witch hunt” to former Brazilian president, Jia Bolsonaro, without the United States designation.
The statement comes shortly after the Brazilian Supreme Court sentenced Bolsonaro to 27 years and three months in prison after being convicted of planning a coup to overturn the 2022 election.
The belief was “unjustly ruled,” Rubio said in the X Post in the province on Thursday as “political persecution by authorized human rights abuser Alexandre des Moraise continues.”
On July 30, the US Treasury imposed sanctions on Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court Judge Alexandre Demorez, who was the target of criticism by President Donald Trump for handling the lawsuit involving former Brazilian president, President Jair Bolsonaro.
On the same day, Trump slapped up to 50% tariffs on most Brazilian products for the prosecution of Bolsonaro on suspicion of a coup, causing a pushback from the country’s incumbent Luis Inacio Lula da Silva.
The Brazilian leader accused Washington of his move as an infringement of Brazil’s national sovereignty as an infringement of Brazil’s national sovereignty, saying his country “will not accept anyone’s control,” according to Google Translation of his social media post.
The lawsuit against those planning the coup is a matter of the country’s judicial system only and “is not the subject of reasoning or threats that undermine the independence of state institutions,” added Da Silvia.
He also vowed to retaliate against “unilateral increase in tariffs” that refutes the claim that the US has a trade deficit with Brazil. Da Silvia cited official US customs data. This has shown a trade surplus of approximately $4100 billion in goods and services with Brazil over the past 15 years.
Census figures show that the US total commodity trade surplus with Brazil reached $154 billion from 2010 to 2024.
Trump’s close ally Bolsonaro and his allies lobbyed Washington to intervene in the case on his behalf. Last month, Bolsonaro’s son, who is also a Brazilian lawmaker, met with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bescent.
Morningstar analysts said in a post-ruling memo that the chances of escalation between the US and Brazil appear to be low.
Potential measures by Washington include further increases in Brazil’s tariff rates, removal of existing tariff exemptions and widening financial sanctions against members of the Brazilian government, Morningstar said. “The relationship is set to get worse before it gets better.”
The convicted ruling made Bolsonaro, 70, the first former president in the country’s history to be found guilty of threatening democracy.
Four of the five judges voted in favor of Bolsonaro’s conviction over accusations that he tried to stick to power by plotting a military coup that included a plot to assassinate Dasilva.
