For decades, Brazil’s unreasonable acts, policies, and practices have harmed U.S. commerce, including by unfairly advantaging Brazil’s producers over their American competitors and by restricting access to one of the world’s top export markets. For example:

Illegal Deforestation: Brazil’s deforestation practices make it more difficult for the U.S. logging industry to compete fairly in global markets. A staggering 91% of deforestation in the Amazon was illegal harvesting between 2023 and 2024. Illegally sourced timber products contribute to distorted global prices, resulting in the devaluation of U.S. wood products, with illegally sourced timber estimated to reduce legally sourced timber prices by 7% to 16%.

There is also evidence that some sub-central levels of Brazil’s government are taking steps to eliminate or roll back tax and other public- and private-sector incentives designed to discourage deforestation.

Read the below 🧵 for more non-reciprocal, pervasive trade practices. Digital Trade: Brazilian courts have issued secret orders directing U.S. technology companies, including X, Meta, and Google, to remove certain political content, suspend accounts belonging to U.S. residents, and prohibit the platforms from disclosing these orders to profile owners.

To enforce compliance, Brazilian courts have also subjected U.S. technology companies to daily non-compliance fines or required them to cease operations in Brazil.

🚨USTR is spotlighting 10 unfair digital trade practices, which have cost American companies billions of dollars in digital service taxes (DSTs) and limited America’s global competitiveness.

1/10: The EU Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act undermine U.S. competitiveness in the EU market by stifling competition, decreasing revenue and returns on investments, and assigning increased regulatory burdens and compliance costs on American companies, while EU competitors do not face similar discriminatory burdens.

U.S. firms are the primary target of these regulations with estimates of financial exposure totaling over $20 billion. Read the below thread for more. 2/10: France imposes a 4% DST on gross revenues of companies meeting global and local revenue thresholds for providing certain digital services in France.

The tax targets U.S. companies, who paid an estimated $735 million in taxes in 2024.

In honor of #EarthDay, USTR is spotlighting 10 unfair trade practices that harm the environment and undercut U.S. producers and exporters. 1/10: Deforestation in Brazil reached a 15-year high in 2021, driven by weak environmental regulations and lax law enforcement, giving Brazilian ranchers an unfair advantage in agricultural production.

In 2024, the U.S. had an agricultural trade deficit with Brazil of $7 billion. Brazil is a major competitor with the U.S. in soybeans, corn, meat, poultry, and other agricultural products.

In honor of @POTUS' historic trade action, USTR is spotlighting another 10 unfair trade practices faced by American exporters.

1/10: Over 100,000 Chinese-made American flags are sold every month on just one e-commerce platform alone, resulting in $2 million in lost sales for American manufacturers, which ultimately leads to lost job opportunities and business closures.

American flags should be Made in America!

Read the below thread for more. 2/10: India bans imports of U.S. ethanol for fuel use. Similarly, Thailand restricts imports of fuel ethanol, requiring approval and issuance permits, and hasn't approved an import permit for fuel ethanol since 2005.

Securing market access to India and Thailand for exports of U.S. fuel ethanol would result in at least an additional $414 million in annual export value.

In honor of Liberation Day, USTR is spotlighting 10 unfair trade practices faced by American exporters.

1/10: China's non-tariff measures and high tariffs on U.S. agricultural products, like soybeans, pork, wheat, and corn, have greatly restricted market access for American farmers. Removing these barriers would generate an estimated $6 billion in additional annual exports of these products.

Read the below thread for more. 2/10: The U.S. shrimp industry noted the negative impacts of subsidized low-cost, farm-raised shrimp imports from Brazil, China, Ecuador, India, Thailand, and Vietnam.

According to National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries, the total value of U.S. shrimp fishermen's catch fell from $522 million in 2021 to $268 million in 2023—an almost 50% decrease in total value.