Turning the government’s power to his own ends

He hit an entire country with tariffs to protect a political ally on trial.

In July 2025 he put a 50% tariff on all goods from Brazil, and his own letter tied it to Brazil's prosecution of former president Jair Bolsonaro, his ally, whom he called the victim of a “witch hunt.” The usual reason did not apply: the United States runs a trade surplus with Brazil, so this was about politics, not trade.

SourcesHis own words on the tariff (AP via Euronews) · The 50% tariff, CNBC

He hit an entire country with tariffs to protect a political ally on trial.
More on this
His Homeland Security signed a $464 million no-bid contract for planes it said it urgently needed to deport people, then let them sit parked for months, turned three into luxury jets, and lent one to the FBI director.His DHS waived dozens of laws to bulldoze a border wall through Big Bend National Park, over a cease-and-desist from Texas’s Republican land commissioner and the objections of seven former park superintendents.He ordered the Navy to rip out the electromagnetic catapults on its newest carriers and go back to 1950s steam, at a cost of billions, just as China put the very same technology to sea.

← Back to the full record