Photo by Matheus Câmara da Silva

The Trump administration’s July 2025 decision to have the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) investigate Brazil’s “attacks on American social media companies as well as other unfair trading practices,” followed by the launch of 50 percent tariffs, drew immediate headlines and caused predictable market panic. Washington has also placed sanctions on Brazilian officials in response to Brazil’s prosecution of its former president and Trump ally, Jair Bolsonaro.

Tensions remain high even after Trump’s October 2025 call with current Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and the country’s foreign minister arriving in Washington days later. While U.S.-Brazil relations have long fluctuated between strain and cooperation, Trump’s latest moves suggest his administration sees Brazil less as a partner and more as a trade and political rival, despite the U.S. maintaining consistent surpluses with the country.

Among these punitive actions, the inquiry into Pix, Brazil’s groundbreaking fast payment system, introduced in 2020, stands out. Developed by the Central Bank of Brazil, Pix lets individuals and businesses send and receive money instantly, at any time, via mobile apps, QR codes, or account keys. Transfers between individuals on Pix are free, and all licensed financial institutions in Brazil are required to adopt it.

Pix’s rollout during COVID-19, when no-contact payments were essential, rapidly accelerated its adoption. Around 175 million people use it, and Pix “now accounts for nearly half of the country’s financial transactions,” according to a September 2025 New York Times article. The platform handles everything from restaurant payments and employee wages to billion-dollar financial transactions. Maintenance costs in 2024 were estimated at nearly $5 million, with another $8 million in investments shared across the central bank’s “entire computing infrastructure,” according to data obtained through Brazil’s Freedom of Information Act by Valor International.

Before Pix, money transfers in Brazil were dominated by the “

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