Trump’s Brazil Tariffs Risk Upending Trade From Coffee to Beef

A container ship travels towards the Port of Rio de Janeiro on Thursday.

Photographer: Dado Galdieri/Bloomberg

President Donald Trump’s unexpected move to threaten a 50% tariff on Brazil risks roiling global commodity markets, disrupting trade on everything from beef to coffee.

The US is Brazil’s second-largest trading partner, trailing only China. But while the two nations compete directly in some markets like corn and cotton, Brazil — an agricultural powerhouse — also produces tropical goods like coffee that can’t be grown in the continental US.