Throughout July, the United States announced two tariff bombs against Brazil: the first of 25%, the result of an investigation by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) into alleged unfair practices in the Brazilian economy; the second of 12.5%, applied against Brazil and other countries that, according to the USTR, did not adequately monitor the use of forced labor. The Brazilian government criticized the measures and announced actions to combat the increased tariffs: in the domestic economy, it promised a package of R$18.5 billion for the most affected sectors; at the international level, it took the surcharges to arbitration at the World Trade Organization (WTO). In this episode, Victor Boyadjian interviews economist Monica de Bolle, who speaks directly from Washington. Monica analyzes what responses Brazil can expect from the WTO and explains other devices that can be adopted by the country: such as the Reciprocity Law and even legal retaliation mechanisms in strategic sectors for the Americans. Guest: Monica de Bolle, senior researcher at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, in Washington (USA). The O Assunto podcast is produced by: Luiz Felipe Silva, Sarah Resende, Carlos Catelan, Luiz Gabriel Franco, Juliene Moretti, Stéphanie Nascimento and Guilherme Gama. Presentation: Victor Boyadjian. What you need to know: Lula government activates WTO against Trump's tariff, says Itamaraty Trump's tariff exposes Brazil's limits to increase participation in global trade Tariff: diplomacy sees possible appeal to the WTO as 'symbolic' and to 'mark Brazil's position' against the USA Trump's tariff: see the chronology and what the new tariffs look like for Brazil After Trump's tariff, Lula discusses China-Mercosur agreement with Xi Jinping USA will extend surcharge applied to Brazil since July 2025; measure has no practical effect Míriam Leitão: 'Negotiation is not an alternative to firmness; it is a consequence of it', says Philip Yang, a former diplomat who defends Brazil's retaliation against US tariffs. The Subject is the daily podcast produced by g1, available on all audio platforms and on YouTube. Since its debut in August 2019, the O Assunto podcast has had more than 168 million downloads across all audio platforms. On YouTube, g1's daily podcast has more than 14.2 million views. Tariff redesigns map of Brazilian exports; sales to China broke records Jornal Nacional/ Reproduction