Brazilian government rejects the US decision to impose a 12.5% ??tariff and returns to talking about Reciprocity Once again targeted by tariffs imposed by the Donald Trump administration, Brazil has accumulated a deficit of 144 billion dollars (R$ 734 billion) in four decades of trading goods with the United States. In other words, the balance between the two partners favors Washington, which recorded a positive balance in 26 of the 41 years in the historical series made available by the US Census Department. ??Do you have any reporting suggestions? Send to g1 When including goods and services, the USA made a profit of 480 billion dollars (R$ 2.4 trillion) from Brazil between 2000 and 2025, show data from the US Department of Economic Analysis (BEA), which did not prevent the imposition of a new 25% tariff against Brazilian exports or a 12.5% ??rate for alleged failure to combat slave labor. Asked during a hearing in the American Senate about this imbalance that favors Americans, the nominee for the US embassy in Brasília, Daniel Perez, acknowledged this week that his country maintains a significant surplus. However, he avoided justifying the new sanction. "This tariff was implemented when I was sleeping. I will find out more in the coming weeks," he said. Jamieson Greer, head of the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), also avoided the argument that the American surplus would delegitimize the measure taken by his body. "We have a surplus in this relationship. But there are many barriers to the United States, whether tariff, regulatory or non-tariff," he told the Atlantic Council in December last year. Account accumulated over four decades Without an agreement with Brazil, the USA imposed 25% tariffs on some products Joao Oliveira/Zoonar/picture alliance The authorities' statements are a symptom of the evolution of trade between the two countries over the last century, a relationship marked by oscillations and which has become more intense in the last four decades. "These fluctuations are independent, on the American side, of whether it is a Democratic or Republican government. What they will take into account is Brazil's level of autonomy", says political scientist and professor at the Federal University of São Paulo (Unifesp) Cristina Pecequilo. "Because Brazil, being autonomous and not aligning itself with the United States, will often seek objectives of reforming the world order and also regional repositioning. And this affects American interests", he continues. Between 1985 and 1995, for example, Brasília even registered positive balances in trade with the USA. Trade exchanges between the United States and Brazil Deutsche Welle The scenario gradually changed during the government of Fernando Henrique Cardoso (FHC), a period marked by the expansion of purchases of American aircraft, vehicles, electronic equipment and telecommunications devices. The trade balance then alternates between surpluses and deficits in the following years. Brazil regained its advantage in 2002 and achieved record profits in 2005, driven by sales of iron ore, gold, oil and coffee. The definitive turning point occurred in 2008, the year of the American financial crisis. Since then, the United States has not recorded a deficit in trade of goods with Brazil. The positive balance reached records of 16.5 billion dollars (R$81 billion) in 2014 and 15.75 billion dollars (R$80 billion) in 2021, considered nominal values. The pattern has been repeated in the last two years. In 2025, the Brazilian deficit reached 14.4 billion dollars (R$73.4 billion), more than double the previous year. In the services sector, the balance favors the Americans at least since 1999. In nominal values, 2025 marked the largest US surplus in the last 26 years: 27.4 billion dollars (R$139 billion) were obtained from the Brazilian market. The data for 2026, considering just five months, indicates that this year the values ??should be even higher. If the month of May is considered, the country became the sixth largest surplus generator for the United States. Still, it is the second most taxed trading partner by the White House, with an average tariff of 18.2%, behind only China. Sanctions go beyond trade exchanges US surpluses in bilateral trade Deutsche Welle "The trade balance, like foreign trade, is not just about the product itself. It is not about the goods, but about the relative gains from this commercial relationship", says economist Tomás Marques, researcher at the German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA), in Hamburg. For the researcher, the US surplus shows that the tariffs are not aimed at correcting a non-existent deficit, but at reorienting trade flows amid Washington's loss of competitiveness in several sectors, such as technology. "The [tariff] percentages are arbitrary. The objective is to change the game and renegotiate based on the United States' position as a major importer. [...] Tariffs and foreign trade are instruments to try to reorganize the industry and regain competitiveness", he adds. This translates into the list of exceptions drawn up by the USTR, for example, which includes around 2,100 items, such as agricultural commodities, minerals and metals. These are products whose domestic demand the US cannot meet and which are unrelated to the practices under investigation. According to the Minister of Development, Industry, Commerce and Services, Márcio Rosa, this means that only 18% of exports destined for the United States are effectively affected by the new measure. “Trade is what is least at stake,” says Pecequilo, from Unifesp. "The United States uses the commercial environment to pressure Brazil in other sectors. [...] Contain Brazil in the field of multilateral organizations, of alliances of variable geometry with other emerging countries." Political disputes also fuel sanctions. Ethanol and new markets in the crosshairs The justification presented by the USTR for taxing Brazil is