Washington, DC - Representative Gregory W. Meeks, Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Joaquin Castro, Ranking Member of the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee, and Sydney Kamlager-Dove, Co-Chair of the Brazil Caucus, issued the following statement on the Brazil Supreme Court's conviction of former President Jair Bolsonaro for his attempted coup, and called on Trump to immediately end the administration's unlawful tariffs:

"Brazil's Justice system has completed its criminal proceedings against former President Jair Bolsonaro and found him guilty of plotting a coup to overturn the results of the 2022 presidential election, and the United States must stand with the people of Brazil as they begin to move forward from this threat on their democracy. That path forward, however, has been undermined by the Trump administration's efforts to interfere in Brazil's democratic institutions, having imposed an unlawful 50% tariffs on the nation to manipulate this judicial process.

"That Trump has waged a trade war to defend his fellow attempted coup leader has not only ruptured U.S.-Brazil relations, these actions have also been done at the expense of the American families who've been impacted by what are effectively taxes. American economic and national securityinterests have suffered collateral damage, as Brazil increasingly exports its goods to China over the United States.

"We call on Trump to immediately end his efforts to undermine Brazil's democracy and end these unlawful tariffs impacting the American economy. Only then can we work to rebuild this critical partnership."

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