Europe and Brazil do not lower their heads in the tariff war

The new commercial barriers imposed by the US reveal not only extreme protectionism, but an authoritarian and undemocratic stance that despises agreements, alliances and the right of each nation to lead their own ways

In the international trade board, Europe and Brazil are again pushed to the corners by the same opponent: Donald Trump’s fierce protectionism. The crusade of tariffs imposed by the president of the United States is not just an economic strategy; It is a direct attack on the idea of national sovereignty, multilateralism and the foundations that support global trade since the postwar.

The new round of tariffs announced by Trump in full reaches historical partners from the United States. Europe and Brazil together see billionaire rates are announced as those who throw missiles into a war that no one has declared.

In the European case, the package is heavy: 25% on cars, 50% over copper and other tariffs aiming at strategic sectors such as medicines, semiconductors and industrial equipment. For Brazil, retaliation came with the same intensity. From August 1, Brazilian products will suffer a 50% surcharge – a unilateral decision that ignores any attempt at dialogue or cooperation.

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This climbing is not economical. It is ideological. It is the reflection of a nationalist foreign policy based on threats, blackmail and impositions. Trump does not act as a head of state, but as a commercial caudillo, driven by electoral impulses and the belief that the world should revolve around the United States. Its decisions not only harm allies, but weaken global stability and corrode the pillars of international diplomacy.

In Europe, the consequences are already noticeable. The climate in Brussels is urgent. The European Union prepares retaliation that total almost € 100 billion, aiming at symbolic sectors of the US economy: Boeing, Bourbon, Motorcycles, Soy. The list is not for nothing – it is political. It is a clear message to the US Congress and Trump’s voters: if the tariff war continues, the damage goes beyond numbers. They reach jobs, industries and interdependent productive chains.

In Brazil, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva did not escape the verbal confrontation. In an exclusive interview with CNN International, Lula was emphatic: “The relationship between the two countries cannot continue like this.” It went further. He said he is willing to dialogue but requires respect for Brazilian sovereignty – and his people, institutions and decisions. “This is a country that deserves respect,” he said rightly. A country that is the second largest supplier to the US market – behind only China – and now sees its oil exports, among others, are arbitrarily penalized.

Lula’s message is necessary and symbolic. In times of advancement of the global far-right, defending national sovereignty is not an isolated act, but a gesture of political resistance. Trump – and trumps – try to redesign international relations based on brute force and imbalance. To this end, they resort to perverse rhetoric that mixes “America first” with absolute contempt for the right of other countries to choose their own directions.

Tariffs, therefore, are only the visible tip of an authoritarian iceberg. Behind them is a world project in which the United States is allowed to impose rules, manipulate markets, blackmail partners, and reduce multilateral treaties to pieces of paper. It was like this with the Paris Agreement, the World Health Organization and now, once again, with the World Trade Organization. Trump rules as if they were above these institutions – or worse: as if they were an obstacle to be removed.

But the world has changed. And in this new scenario, no one can afford to kneel before Washington. Europe already signals with force: prepares the use of the anticking instrument (ACI), a powerful tool created precisely to react to external pressures such as Trump’s. This mechanism would allow the imposition of severe sanctions against US companies and strategic sectors if threats are materialized. It would be a turning point: an institutional response to an president who refuses to play within the rules.

Brazil, in turn, needs to take on an even firmer posture. Brazilian diplomacy cannot remain hostage to contradictory nods or the hope that Trump to retreat on its own. It’s time to reposition the country in the world. Seek more balanced partnerships, intensify dialogue with Europe, China, Latin America. Diversify markets, strengthen national industry, protect sensitive sectors such as agriculture, technology and energy. And, especially, assume that national sovereignty cannot be negotiated as a lot at the fair.

There are those who argue that Trump’s measures are justifiable, in response to commercial deficits or the escape of US industry jobs. It is a shallow argument. The EU deficit itself has grown not because of Europe, but by anticipations of imports by US companies, predicting precisely the tariff hardening. It is the fault of the instability generated by Trump, not from Brussels. In the case of Brazil, the data are even clearer: the country has expanded its exports based on legitimate competitive advantages – not unfair practices. To tax Brazil by 50% is to punish a partner for complying with the rules of the game.

By aiming allies with protectionist fury, Trump isolates the United States in an increasingly interconnected world. Weakens bridges, destroys credibility, creates difficult ruptures to repair. If there is anything that history teaches is that imposition and fear -based trade policies do not build prosperity. They plant instability, retaliation, resentment. And in the end, everyone lose.

The moment requires political courage. It requires leaders like Lula, Macron, Scholz, Sánchez and so many others say, with all the letters, that the sovereignty of the peoples is not for sale. What agreements are signed based on mutual confidence, not threats. That fair and transparent trade is a collective good – not a privilege of those who have more weapons or votes at the US Electoral College.

Trump’s crusade against free trade is also a crusade against democracy. Because disassembling multilateral spaces, ignoring institutions, threatening integer countries with economic retaliation is corroding, inside, the structures that guarantee balance and justice in the international system. And that interests only those who feed on chaos.

Fortunately, resistance begins to gain body. In Brasilia, Lula’s reaction is a step. In Brussels, the contracted are already designed. But it is necessary to go further: to build a global alliance that defends not only fair rates, but the principles of sovereignty, dialogue, and international justice. Not to face the United States as a country, but to resist its most authoritarian version, embodied by Trump.

Because if the world gives in to this model, tomorrow will be another country – another economy, another people – to be suffocated by tariffs, threats and blackmail. And little by little, what will remain will be a scenario of trade war without rules, without justice and without future. A world where the powerful dictate, the allies shut up and the others pay the bill.

The good news is that there is still time. Time to react, time to rebuild alliances, time to say yes, another way is possible. A path in which differences are resolved with diplomacy, the agreements are respected and sovereignty – of all – is preserved as an inviolable good.

Let it be clear: the tariff war started by Trump is not just a percentage dispute. It is a struggle for dignity, autonomy and global balance. And it cannot be overcome with silence.

With information from Bloomberg*