Trump reverses course in 'remarkable admission’ of failed policy: economist

President Donald Trump reversed course this week after excluding certain Brazilian goods from his so-called reciprocal tariffs, a reversal that left one economist stunned on Saturday over what he called a “remarkable admission.”

“‘'I tried a policy, and oh, everyone tells me I want the cost of living to be lower, let me reverse it,’” said economist Justin Wolfers, appearing on CNN’s “Table for Five” on Saturday. “The only implication is that he's learned what [we] learned in Econ 101: tariffs raise prices!”

Trump had initially levied high tariffs on Brazil in part over its prosecution of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who has since been sentenced to nearly three decades in prison over his role in an attempted coup after his election loss in 2023. Bolsonaro has long been an ally to Trump, and his arrest was met poorly in the White House.

And, with Trump’s reversal on tariffs, the president had also delivered a major “political victory” to Brazil’s current left-wing president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

“Trump’s decision to remove many tariffs on Brazilian products is a significant political victory for the Lula administration ahead of next year’s presidential elections – and a vindication of Brazil’s choice to pursue a calm and pragmatic negotiation strategy vis-à-vis Trump,” wrote Brazilian professor Iliver Stuenkel in a social media post this week on X.

Trump’s decision to roll back select tariffs on Brazil was made via an executive order on Thursday, and will impact goods such as beef, fruit, coffee and coca, all of which saw prices soar in the United States in recent months.