Trump imposes 50% retaliatory tariffs on Brazil and launches trade investigations. President Lula: Foreigners should stay out of politics

The Brazilian government recently filed a lawsuit against former President Bolsonaro, an ally of US President Trump. In response, Trump was furious and announced that from August 1, an additional 50% tariff would be imposed on all Brazilian goods exported to the US. He also pointed the finger at the instant payment system Pix launched by the Brazilian Central Bank, questioning its ability to seize the market share of US financial companies in Brazil, and thus launched a trade investigation into Brazil. This move immediately triggered a strong backlash from the current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who bluntly said: "Foreigners should stay out of politics!"

The United States officially launched a trade investigation into Brazil, and X's ban was also included in the account

On July 18, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer announced that he would launch a digital trade investigation into Brazil, focusing on Pix, an instant payment system launched by the Brazilian central bank. Greer said that the investigation will assess whether Brazil gives other countries more favorable treatment than the United States in terms of tariffs and non-tariff barriers, and will also examine whether U.S. technology companies have been punished for refusing to cooperate with Brazil's political censorship.

The investigation can be traced back to a dispute in August 2024. At that time, the Brazilian government required Twitter (X) to set up a legal representative office in the country and delete false information and politically sensitive content, otherwise it would be banned. However, Elon Musk refused to compromise, and Brazil eventually ordered the ban of X. This move made American technology companies very dissatisfied, believing that Brazil was extremely unfriendly to foreign companies and was equivalent to punishing American companies in disguise.

Brazil and BRICS are suspected of weakening the dollar's hegemony, causing Trump's dissatisfaction

In the same year, Brazil and other BRICS countries launched the cross-border payment platform BRICS Pay, which bypassed the SWIFT system and conducted transactions in the legal currencies of various countries. At the BRICS summit held in Rio that year, member countries also discussed the establishment of a common reserve currency, directly challenging the status of the US dollar.

Pix , launched by the Brazilian government in 2020, allows local residents to transfer money 24 hours a day with almost no fees. Payments can be made using a mobile app, QR code or a simple account code, without having to go through a credit card company. In just five years, Pix has been used by 60 million merchants in the country, from roadside stalls to utility bills, and the number of users has exceeded 150 million.

U.S. Trade Representative Greer pointed out that the Brazilian government may favor its own payment system and cooperate with other countries to further weaken the local business layout of U.S. financial companies. This series of actions is seen as weakening the financial hegemony of the U.S. dollar, which also made U.S. President Trump quite dissatisfied .

Trump speaks up for the former Brazilian president and threatens to investigate Brazil

On July 7 this year, Trump called on the Brazilian authorities to drop the case against former Brazilian President Bolsonaro, criticizing it as a "political witch hunt." Bolsonaro has a close relationship with Trump, almost a political ally and personal friend. After leaving office, he was entangled in many legal cases and was prosecuted by the current President Lula's government.

Therefore, in mid-July, Trump sent a letter directly to Brazilian President Lula, warning that if Brazil did not make concessions, the United States would launch a full investigation. He also threatened to impose a 50% punitive tariff on all Brazilian imports starting from August 1. Trump pointed out that the Brazilian government used the Pix payment system to exclude American credit card and financial technology companies, leaving American companies with no fair competition opportunities in the country.

Trump imposes 50% tariff on Brazil, Lula: Foreigners should stay out of politics

Lula then responded to Trump's sudden threat of a 50% tariff, emphasizing that this was an interference in Brazil's sovereignty and judicial independence. In another speech on the same day, he criticized Trump for " keeping foreigners out of politics " and pointed out that many of the accusations in Trump's letter were "not in line with the facts," especially since Brazil is not a country with a trade surplus with the United States, but has been in a long-term trade deficit.

He stressed that Bolsonaro was prosecuted for attempting a coup and threatening to assassinate the vice president and the president of the Supreme Court. The judiciary is completely independent of the president and it is not political persecution. Lula criticized Trump for announcing the tariff decision in the form of an open letter, which undermined the 200-year-old friendly relations between the two countries. He also stated that Brazil is willing to negotiate a solution "using all the languages in the dictionary", but if the talks fail, it does not rule out resorting to the WTO, retaliatory tariffs or joining other countries to respond.

He also stressed that Brazil is actively exploring new markets such as the EU, ASEAN, and Latin America, and will not become a "hostage" of the United States, but still hopes to maintain relations with the United States. Regarding Trump's intention to play the role of mediating the war between Russia and Ukraine but instead selling more weapons, Lula bluntly stated that the world lacks effective global governance and the UN Security Council should be reformed to truly promote peace. Finally, he assured the Brazilian people that he would explain Brazil's position in a national speech, emphasizing that Brazil does not accept any coercive orders, but only negotiations based on equality.

Sohei Kamiya, the representative of the Japanese Sanseitō Party, who advocates "Japanese first", was successfully elected. He accepted an exclusive interview with ANN Media and talked about his political philosophy, policy priorities and future direction. As a rising star in the emerging conservative political arena, Kamiya emphasized that economic revitalization is the top priority, while promoting concepts such as national defense independence, digital currency and fiscal reform, and the reconstruction of social values. When Sohei Kamiya first entered the political arena, he was strongly recommended by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. After that, he wandered among several small parties, and finally established the Youtube channel ChGrandStrategy to break out of the circle and successfully won countless votes from young people. The following is a comprehensive compilation and introduction to Sohei Kamiya and the Sanseitō Party that suddenly emerged.

The emergence of a political party has become a new force of Japanese conservatives

The Sanseitō Party was founded in 2020. It initially focused on education reform, local autonomy and sovereignty protection, attracting conservatives and grassroots groups. The party's name means "all citizens should actively participate in politics", advocating against bureaucratic dominance and emphasizing national spirit and cultural roots.

Although it was not taken seriously by mainstream politics in the early days, as the Japanese people's dissatisfaction with the current "foreigner policy" situation accumulated, the participating political party entered the parliament for the first time in the 2022 election, and further expanded its seats in 2025, becoming a new force in Japanese politics.

According to the official website of the participating political parties , the main policy axes include:

• Educational Reform and Reconstruction of Historical Perspective
• National sovereignty and national defense independence
• Economic Independence and Active Fiscal Policy
• Traditional Culture and Protection of Family Values

Kamiya Munehito went from being a YouTuber to a member of parliament

Sohei Kamiya is a key figure in the political party. He has been running the YouTube channel "ChGrandStrategy" since 2013, covering niche issues such as historical revisionism and traditional childbearing. As of 2023, the channel has 487,000 subscribers and 3,326 videos, becoming an important source of conservative online voice.

Kamiya is good at using the Internet platform to accumulate supporters and successfully transform them into political strength. In the interview, he said that he speaks in simple and easy-to-understand language, which is a way to make people who don't care about politics willing to stop and listen.

Why does Japanese First resonate?

The Japanese priority policy includes the following:

• Prioritize tax cuts, not fund-raising and distribution
• Rebuilding Japan with winning industries
• Oppose excessive acceptance of foreigners
• Ensuring rice and food safety
• Reduce medical costs with GoTo Travel
• Oppose WHO pandemic treaty on money-making drugs
• Abolish the controlled education system that emphasizes academic achievement
• Each child is given a monthly subsidy of 100,000 yen
• Integrating philosophy into politics and making constitutions

When asked by the host why the Japanese-first appeal resonated, Kamiya said it was a backlash against excessive globalization. He pointed out that under the dominance of the globalized economy, the Japanese middle class and families have been marginalized, so the political parties' proposal to put Japanese citizens first is a call for a balanced society. He said he does not reject globalization, but advocates taking good care of one's own citizens, which is a necessary balance of values.

Economic Reform: Active Fiscal Policy and the Possibility of Crypto Assets

Kamiya emphasized that the issue that the public is most concerned about right now is "economy and income", so the participating political parties will promote low taxes and active fiscal measures. He advocated that the government should provide a childcare subsidy of 100,000 yen per child per month. Regarding Japan's fiscal problems, Kamiya responded: We should look at fiscal innovation from an international perspective. Japan's economy is large and should have the conditions to adopt innovative tools, such as the issuance of digital currencies or encrypted assets. If we continue to use the old rules, it will be difficult to implement new policies. We need a completely new approach to deal with these challenges. This concept coincides with the "sovereign digital currency" initiative proposed by Congressman Matsuda and others, showing the open-mindedness of the participating political parties on fiscal and monetary policies.

Defense Independence and Nuclear Deterrence Debate

Regarding national defense policy, Kamiya expressed a strong Japanese subjective position. He believed that Japan should review its security agreement with the United States and advocated that it was not ruled out to discuss having "some kind of deterrence". Although he did not explicitly support nuclear weapons, he said that Congress should start such discussions instead of suppressing them. He said that it was not that the US military would withdraw tomorrow, but that they must start to talk about these issues more openly.

Controversy over comments that appear to discriminate against women

During the election, Kamiya was criticized for sexism for his remarks such as "high-income women don't have children". He said on the show that he had no intention of apologizing, but was just pointing out the trend of society, but if it caused misunderstanding, he would be willing to further explain and communicate. He pointed out that if politicians completely avoid controversy, they cannot tell the truth, and sometimes they have to take risks to bring about change.

A Japanese version of Trump? Stirring up populism?

In response to the comparison between him and US President Trump, Kamiya said that he agrees with some of Trump's policy positions, especially in terms of national interests and economic priorities. In response to the populist label, he said: If it represents the voice of the people, he does not reject it. But he hopes that everyone will listen to what he says clearly instead of just labeling him.

Kamiya Munetoshi and the political party represent a new "bottom-up" political force. They use the Internet as a stage, simple language, specific policies and a strong sense of crisis to successfully attract young voters who are dissatisfied with the status quo. However, this direct style and fierce advocacy are often accompanied by controversy. Extreme rightism is on the rise around the world, and many of its supporters are young people, which deserves attention.

With the support of the Trump administration, Musk briefly became a symbolic figure in Washington, and the market value of his Tesla and SpaceX soared. However, from the breakup with Trump to the various controversies over Robotaxi and Grok AI, he has been on the road to self-destruction step by step. When the president becomes an enemy and investors begin to waver, people can't help but worry, is Musk's technology empire collapsing?

(The following content is from Bloomberg , ABMedia of Elon Musk)

From Trump's favorite to political outcast: Musk's political career took a sharp turn for the worse

On May 30, when Musk appeared at the White House wearing a DOGE cap, the bruises on his face unexpectedly became the focus. He explained that he was beaten by his 5-year-old son. This may be just a farce, but it also became the starting point of his disorderly entry into politics.

As the core of power and best spokesperson for Trump's second term, Musk served as the "Minister of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)". He mocked civil servants, cut funding for food banks, and even boasted that he would "send the entire federal agency into the wood chipper." Even though this caused a lot of public resentment, people from all walks of life still chose to cater to Musk in order to please Trump, which indirectly caused the market value of SpaceX and xAI to rise in the early days of his political career.

However, the deep connection between the two people and their interests soon caused problems. Musk's excessive edge caused his political support to drop by 20% in just one year, not only triggering a boycott against Musk and Tesla in the United States. Since its post-election high, Tesla's stock price has almost halved in three months.

Musk and Trump part ways: Difference in ideas was the fuse

If Musk had maintained a close relationship with Trump, the above situation might not have been fatal. After all, Trump not only urged the public to buy Tesla, but also let the government promote regulations in his favor.

However, a few days later, Musk went on a rampage on social media X, claiming that Trump could not have been elected president without him, and even accused Trump of being an accomplice in the Jeffrey Epstein sex scandal. Trump fought back , threatening to cancel all contracts with Tesla and SpaceX.

The dispute between the two cooled over time. Although Musk deleted the post related to Epstein and apologized, he later criticized Trump's "Big, Beautiful Act" because of the tax cuts that cut subsidies to Tesla. Trump said coldly about this matter:

Do you know what DOGE is? DOGE is a monster that may turn around and swallow Musk.

( Musk said he would establish the "American Party", Trump: Considering sending him back to South Africa )

Trump holds all the chips. How can Musk get out of this?

What is worrying is that Trump's influence and threat to Musk is not as small as imagined. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index shows that Musk's assets are about 360 billion US dollars, but in fact his assets are highly dependent on the performance of his companies (especially Tesla's stock price), his relationship with the US government, and his personal and corporate fundraising capabilities.

Now, these three pillars are shaky as Trump and Musk have become increasingly hostile to each other, and even investors are beginning to express concerns about Musk's every move. Bloomberg commented:

Musk's company finances are intertwined with each other and are highly tied to his every move, so it is difficult for him to remain unscathed when problems arise. If Trump really takes ruthless action, he still has many tools at his disposal to attack Musk's career, and he may also encounter the "invisible hand of revenge."

Musk's career: Is his tech empire in danger?

Robotaxi self-driving promises continue to be broken, is Tesla's market value overestimated or does it have explosive potential?

Musk has always been pushing dates and making promises, from claiming that his cars would be fully self-driving in 2015 to now still pushing back the target date. In recent years, there have been a number of accidental and self-collision accidents, which have caused public concern. Even so, investors including ARK Invest founder Cathie Wood still believe in him. As for Tesla:

Tesla's market value is about 20 times that of General Motors (GM), but GM's annual vehicle sales are three times that of Tesla. There are only two possibilities for such a gap: either Tesla is overvalued, or it is about to usher in explosive growth.

However, the fact is that Tesla's vehicle delivery volume has declined for two consecutive quarters, Cybertruck has only sold 1/10 of the expected sales, the affordable car project has been quietly delayed, and there are reports of system chaos and high-level departures in the management. Trump's new tax reform bill has also canceled the $7,500 electric vehicle tax credit and carbon credit sales that Tesla relies on. JPMorgan Chase predicts that the company's annual profit this year will be halved.

( Tesla Robotaxi vs. Waymo: One article reveals the technical routes and business layout of the two leading self-driving companies )

Starship crash: Political interference in SpaceX shakes its dominance in space

SpaceX has always been Musk's most solid company, almost monopolizing the mission of launching satellites, cargo and personnel transportation in the United States, but it is now in turmoil.

The company had previously refused the Ukrainian military's request to use the Starlink network to assist in the counterattack against Russia during the Ukrainian-Russian war, which aroused doubts about its position. Later, due to Musk's criticism of the "Big, Beautiful Act", Trump, on the one hand, contacted SpaceX's competitor EchoStar, and on the other hand, turned to injecting $4.1 billion into Boeing's SLS rocket in the bill. These actions were obviously a counterattack against Musk.

As the company that Musk trusts the most, SpaceX's space business landscape is now unbalanced due to Musk's personality and political manipulation.

( Ark analyzes SpaceX's grand ambitions: its valuation will increase sevenfold by 2030 )

xAI is losing money and facing controversy, relying on SpaceX and Tesla for cash flow

Musk's newly established xAI is his latest gamble and the biggest money-burning machine. The latest model, Grok 4, was called the world's most powerful AI by him, but it was immediately found to contain anti-Semitic, white supremacist and genocidal remarks after its launch, and even frequently quoted Nazi memes and conspiracy theories, which triggered criticism from the outside world.

( From anti-Semitism to AI girlfriend? Musk's Grok "companion mode" female character sparks controversy )

What worries investors is that xAI is expected to lose up to $13 billion this year and have revenue of only $500 million, but it plans to raise more than $20 billion, including funding from SpaceX. Musk even said that he would ask the Tesla board of directors to also allocate funds to support xAI.

When the hero becomes the source of chaos: Is Musk’s technology empire crumbling?

Musk has always been a master at surviving desperate situations, with both Tesla and SpaceX on the verge of bankruptcy. However, this time it is not just a single problem, from losing the White House backer, founding a new party, the American Party, to being unable to manage his various companies, everything is time-consuming, costly and mentally exhausting.

At the same time, as a promoter of global technological evolution, Musk's business empire is not only built on technology and innovation, but also on his personal charm and the trust of investors. Today, these foundations are gradually collapsing due to his own political fanaticism, ideology and speech storms. As Bloomberg commented:

Although the president has the ability and means to harm Musk's business empire, if we have to say who is the biggest variable in the empire, Trump probably has to rank behind Musk himself.

Now that he has lost Trump's protection, he has become the biggest risk in the business landscape. The empire has not fallen, but cracks have already appeared. And the first brick was knocked down by Musk himself.