US President Donald Trump plans to impose a 50% import tariff on products from Brazil as of August. The threat sparked outrage in the South American nation, partly because of fears of economic fallout, but also for another reason: Trump linked his move to the ongoing trial of Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil's president from 2019 to 2023, on charges of forming a criminal organization to stage a coup.

On January 8, 2023, about a week after President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took office, Bolsonaro supporters stormed Congress, the seat of government, and the Supreme Court in the capital, Brasília, vandalizing both buildings. To this day, Bolsonaro refuses to acknowledge Lula's election win.

"Brazil is doing a terrible thing on their treatment of former President Jair Bolsonaro," Trump wrote Monday on his Truth Social platform. "I have watched, as has the World, as they have done nothing but come after him, day after day, night after night, month after month, year after year!........

© Deutsche Welle