Trade wars are culture wars
trade-wars
A 40% US tariff on Brazil cut its exports to America by nearly 19% in a month, wiping out mining shipments and hitting agriculture and steel hardest.
Following a 40% tariff imposed in August 2025, Brazilian exports to the US fell 18.7%, equivalent to $623 million a month and about 1.8% of Brazil’s GDP, with the sharpest drop — 25.8% — landing between July and August. Mining products were nearly wiped out, and agricultural goods such as meat and coffee alongside industrial materials like iron and steel were hit hard, with roughly 80% of product categories declining. The framing here is that a tariff justified in political and cultural terms carries a very real, concentrated economic cost for the targeted country’s export sectors.
Originally published on Substack, October 7, 2025.