President Donald Trump says the US will impose a 35 per cent tariff on imports from Canada and plans to impose blanket tariffs of 15 or 20 per cent on most other trade partners.

In a letter released on Thursday on his social media platform, Trump told Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney the new rate would come into effect on August 1 and would go up if Canada retaliated.

The President has broadened his trade war in recent days, setting new tariffs on a number of countries, including allies Japan and South Korea, along with a 50 per cent tariff on copper.

In an interview with NBC News published on Thursday, Trump said other trading partners that had not yet received such letters would likely face blanket tariffs.

“Not everybody has to get a letter. You know that. We’re just setting our tariffs,” he said in the interview.

“We’re just going to say all of the remaining countries are going to pay, whether it’s 20 per cent or 15 per cent. We’ll work that out now.”

Trump’s proposed tariffs on pharmaceuticals exports to the US have raised alarm in Australia, with the Australian Government saying it will not compromise on the integrity of the country’s Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme to do a deal with Trump administration.

War of words: Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva and US President Donald Trump.

Meanwhile, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Thursday that he wants to find a diplomatic solution to Trump’s threat of 50 per cent tariffs on Brazilian exports – but vowed to reciprocate like-for-like if they take effect on August 1.

“We’ll first try to negotiate, but if there’s no negotiation, the law of reciprocity will be put into practice,” Lula said in an interview with Record TV, citing a law Congress recently passed giving the President powers to retaliate against trade barriers.

“If they’re going to charge us 50, we’ll charge them 50.”

In a letter to Lula published on Wednesday, Trump linked the tariffs to Brazil’s judiciary launching legal proceedings against former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is on trial on charges of plotting a coup to stop Lula from taking office in 2023 after hundreds of pro-Bolsonaro supporters stormed Congress. Trump said Bolsonaro was the victim of a “witch hunt”.

Lula criticised Bolsonaro for perpetuating claims of legal persecution, stressing the former president’s son, Eduardo Bolsonaro, took leave from his role in Congress at least in part to head a campaign in his father’s favour in the United States.

“The former president of the Republic should take responsibility, because he is agreeing with Trump’s taxation of Brazil. In fact, it was his son who went there to influence Trump’s mind,” Lula said.

In light of the public statement made by U.S. President Donald Trump on social media on the afternoon of Wednesday (9), it is important to highlight the following:

Brazil is a sovereign nation with independent institutions and will not accept any form of tutelage.

The judicial…

— Lula (@LulaOficial) July 9, 2025

In a social media post late on Thursday, Bolsonaro said Trump’s letter announcing tariffs was received with “a sense of responsibility”, adding he respects and admires the US government.

Bolsonaro argued the US measure was a reaction to Brazil’s distancing from freedom. “This would never have happened under my government,” he wrote.

Lula said the Government will set up a committee with Brazilian business leaders to “rethink” the country’s commercial policy with the United States. 

The US is Brazil’s second-largest trading partner after China and has a rare trade surplus with Latin America’s largest economy. Some market sectors, including aviation and banking, felt immediate pressure. 

But the tariffs could inflict pain in the US, too, disrupting food prices, given Brazil’s role as a major agricultural exporter of coffee, orange juice, sugar, beef, and ethanol. The proposed 50 per cent tariff would effectively halt the flow of Brazilian coffee to the US, its largest buyer, four trade sources told Reuters on Thursday.

Brazilian industry lobby groups representing sectors such as coffee and oil issued statements on Thursday, urging a diplomatic solution.

“We hope that diplomacy and balanced negotiations will prevail, despite ideologies and personal preferences, and that common sense will once again guide the relationship between these two great sovereign nations,” Josue Gomes da Silva, the president of Sao Paulo industry group Fiesp, said in a statement.