New 25% Tariff on Brazil Takes Effect July 22, 2026: What Importers Need to Know

What Changed and When

The legal path: USTR initiated a Section 301 investigation into Brazil's trade practices on July 15, 2025, at the President's direction. A June 2026 determination found several Brazilian measures — digital trade and electronic payment rules, preferential tariffs, anti-corruption interference, IP protection, ethanol market access, and illegal deforestation — unreasonable and burdensome to US commerce. Following the required comment period and a public hearing, USTR's final action imposes a 25% tariff on goods of Brazil, effective July 22, 2026.

This is a distinct action from the 46-country, 12.5% Section 301 tariff (the forced-labor investigation) with its own July 20 completion deadline — don't confuse the two. Brazil's 25% rate is specific to Brazil and stands on its own legal footing.

What's Exempt

USTR's final Federal Register notice, published July 20, 2026, includes an annex exempting more than 1,600 HTSUS subheadings. Confirmed exempt categories include coffee, beef, orange juice, Brazil nuts, cocoa, iron ore, petroleum and coal products, pharmaceuticals, and civil aircraft parts (roughly 430 of the annex lines are aircraft-specific). After reviewing public comments and testimony from the July 6-7 hearing, USTR expanded the list further to add items such as aluminum hydroxide, select pharmaceutical ingredients, unflavored instant coffee, and organic honey.

The annex runs to 1,600+ individual HTS lines, so the safest check is still your specific HTS subheading against the Federal Register annex or with a licensed customs broker — don't rely on a product-category summary alone.

Does This Stack With Brazil's Existing Section 232 Tariffs?

No. USTR's final notice confirms the 25% Section 301 duty does not stack with Section 232 — articles already subject to Section 232 tariffs (steel, aluminum, copper, and certain metal-intensive equipment) are excluded from the Brazil action entirely, so Brazilian steel and aluminum continue paying the 50% Section 232 rate only. For non-metal Brazilian goods that aren't otherwise exempt, the new 25% applies on top of the normal MFN rate for that product.

What to Do Before July 22

1. Check your product against the exemption annex (coffee, beef, orange juice, Brazil nuts, cocoa, iron ore, petroleum/coal products, pharmaceuticals, and aircraft parts are confirmed categories) using your HTS code, not the product's common name.
2. Re-run landed cost on anything shipping on or after July 22. Goods that clear before the effective date aren't subject to the new duty; timing your entry date matters if you have flexibility.
3. Steel and aluminum purchase orders stay at the existing 50% Section 232 rate — the two duties don't stack, so no additional planning is needed there beyond the current metals tariff.
4. Watch for Brazilian retaliation. Brazil's government has said it will pursue countermeasures under its own reciprocal-tariff law and raise the matter at the WTO — a response could affect US exporters shipping to Brazil, separate from the import side covered here.