credit, Reuters
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- author, Marianna Schreiber
- scroll, From BBC News Brazil in Brasilia
However, the decision only partially benefits the country, as it kept the additional 40% tariff in place on a large portion of Brazilian exports from August onwards, the so-called “tariff.”
What was removed was merely the application of the 10% rate, which was announced last April, in several countries, including Brazil.
This general reduction affected some products. Among them are items produced here, such as coffee, various cuts of beef, acai, brazil nuts, tapioca, cassava, fruits such as bananas, oranges, coconuts and others.
With this measure, the percentage of Brazilian exports exempt from any additional tariffs approved under the Trump administration rose from 23% to 26%, representing, in total, about US$10 billion in sales to the United States, Alckmin said.
The main beneficiary item was orange juice, whose exports to Americans total about US$1.2 billion annually. About 40% of all Brazilian juice sent abroad goes to the USA, whose production is concentrated in the state of São Paulo. The product was already exempt from Brazil’s 40% tariff – along with goods such as oil and aircraft. Now, the juice is also free from the 10% tax.
For example, coffee will continue to be taxed at 40%.
“We will continue to work for further reduction. In fact, in the case of coffee, this does not make sense, as the tariff is still high, and Brazil is the largest supplier of coffee to the United States,” Alkmene stressed, during a press conference held for journalists in the Palacio do Planalto.
The Vice President, who is also Minister of Development, Industry, Trade and Services, is one of those leading negotiations with the United States to reduce tariffs by 40% on Brazil, along with Finance Minister Fernando Haddad and Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira.
The three are expected to travel to the United States after the climate summit, COP 30, which will be held this month in Belém. However, Alkmene stated on Sunday that nothing has been decided yet.
He added, “We will now wait for the next steps. But we are optimistic that we will achieve more progress.”
Friday’s announcement is not a direct part of these ongoing negotiations between Brazil and the United States regarding tariffs specifically applicable to Brazilian products that were announced in July.
It was adopted in response to the rule of former President Jair Bolsonaro, an ideological ally of Trump, and includes additional tariffs of 40% on a large portion of Brazilian products exported to the United States, in addition to the 10% reciprocal rates announced in April – thus raising rates on some Brazilian products to 50%.
So far, Lula has not commented publicly on the US government’s decision to cancel the 10% customs duties on some agricultural products.
Since the brief meeting between Lula and Trump at the UN General Assembly in September, the two countries have grown closer and reopened talks on tariffs.
The two presidents met in person in Malaysia at the end of October to discuss this issue.
This week, Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met on two occasions to discuss the issue, first in Canada and then in Washington.
“(The agreement) will set a road map for negotiations that may last two or three months and then finally resolve all issues between the two countries,” Vieira said.
According to the minister, during a virtual meeting on November 4, a proposal was presented to the Americans, which will be “a response to the first proposal they presented on October 16.”
This was in reference to the first meeting with Rubio at the White House to begin the negotiation process.
Vieira stressed that the American response may come in the next few days.
The impact on Americans’ pockets explains Trump’s decline
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The decision to suspend part of the 10% tariffs, announced in April, was published in an executive order on Friday signed by Trump.
Trump states in the executive order that he decided to change the scope of the products on which these duties are imposed after receiving information and recommendations from the authorities monitoring the implementation of these measures, in addition to considering the progress of negotiations with other countries, the domestic demand for certain products, and the American production capacity for these items.
The document stated that the change will be applied to a series of products listed in an appendix and that it will come into effect “with respect to goods that enter for consumption, or are taken out of the warehouse for consumption, as of 00:01 (local time) on November 13, 2025.”
On Tuesday (11/11), in an interview with Fox News, Trump mentioned the possibility of reducing customs duties on coffee, without mentioning which countries would benefit.
His government is facing increasing pressure due to high inflation in the country.
The price of coffee has seen strong inflation in the US this year, and tariffs on Brazilian production have been exacerbating this scenario – causing Trump to worry about putting pressure on him on an important front for his voters, the economy.
According to BBC News Brasil calculations based on official data from the Ministry of Defense and International Cooperation, the amount of Brazilian coffee sent to the US in September fell by almost half (-47%) compared to the same month in 2024.
In the first conversation with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to discuss the tariffs, at the beginning of October, the US president admitted that the US was “missing” some Brazilian products affected by the tariffs, and specifically mentioned coffee, according to BBC News Brazil at the time.
Brazil is also the fourth-largest supplier of mangoes and guavas (which are together in the category of goods used in foreign trade) to Americans, having shipped about US$56 million of these products to the country in 2024.
Mexico is the leading supplier, with US$550 million, followed by Peru (US$96.9 million) and Ecuador (US$56 million), according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity.
The United States grows mangoes in states such as Florida, California and Hawaii, but most domestic consumption comes from imports. The same is true of guava, with its modest cultivation in Florida, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico.
Brazilian mango producers have been hit hard by the US tariffs, with production halted due to canceled orders, as BBC News Brasil has shown.
Brazil remains the world’s largest beef exporter and accounts for 23% of US imports of the product, according to calculations by Genial Investimentos.
The USA is the second largest market for Brazilian products, after only China.
But, unlike coffee and fruits like mangoes, in the case of meat, the United States is also a major producer.
However, the country is facing a historic decline in beef supplies.
The United States currently has the lowest number of cattle in 74 years, after ranchers cut production after several years of drought and low prices.
At the same time, consumer demand remained flat, causing supermarket prices to rise.
Suspending meat tariffs should also benefit Argentina, which accounts for 2.1% of US imports and is governed by Javier Miley, a Trump ally.
In early November, Trump said he would buy more Argentine meat to make the product cheaper on the US market, angering national producers.
Trump has always maintained that his tariffs will not lead to higher prices for American consumers, but the latest waivers indicate a change in attitude.
Economists have already warned that companies will pass on the cost of import tariffs, leading to higher prices for consumers.
While inflation remained calmer than many analysts expected in September, most items tracked in the Labor Department’s inflation report showed increases, with food prices up 2.7% from a year ago.
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