FILE – In this Aug. 11, 2014 file photo, worker Jose Esquivel takes a brief break inside the Work Cooperative Los Constituyentes Limited metallurgical plant, which was formed by workers in response to the 2001 economic crisis, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. President Donald Trump on Dec. 2, 2019 accused Argentina and Brazil of hurting American farmers through currency manipulation and said he’ll slap tariffs on their steel and aluminum imports to retaliate. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko, File)Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s U.S.-focused foreign policy efforts suffered a severe setback on Monday when his American counterpart Donald Trump pledged to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum on the South American nation.
Trump initially leveled the threat by Twitter while accusing Brazil and neighboring Argentina, governed by U.S. allies Bolsonaro and Mauricio Macri, of manipulating their currencies and hurting American farmers.
Brazil’s vice president denied the accusation, but Bolsonaro, who openly admires Trump, was reticent; the far-right politician said he could call Trump “if needed.”
Argentina’s production and labor minister, Dante Sica, said Trump’s announcement caught policymakers by surprise.
Both South American nations were among a group of U.S. allies that Trump exempted from steel and aluminum tariffs in March 2018. The American president’s threat to reverse that decision and impose the metals tariffs on Argentina and Brazil is another example of his mercurial approach to trade policy.