Dollar rises and stock market falls after Trump imposes 50% tax on Brazilian products

The dollar opened the market this Thursday (10) with a strong rise of 2.1% to R$5.62 after the President of the United States, Donald Trump, imposed a 50% surcharge on Brazilian products exported to the North American country. The rise lasted a few minutes and reduced to 1.43% around 9:30 am, quoted at R$5.58.

The high opening shows pessimism among financial market investors regarding the direction that Trump's taxation could take in Brazil, especially after President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) signaled that he will apply the Reciprocity Law, for the first time , to respond to the taxation.

On the other hand, as expected by the market, B3 – the São Paulo Stock Exchange – opened down 0.25%, at 137.4 thousand points at 10:20 am. On Wednesday (9), the day Trump announced the taxation, the trading session closed down 1.31%.

For economist Luan Aral, a foreign exchange specialist at Genial Investimentos, the crisis between Brazil and the United States has escalated beyond the economic sphere of the financial market.

"We've moved beyond the economic sphere, of surpluses or deficits between countries, to the political and diplomatic sphere. This was clear in the letter sent by Trump, when he mentions the former president [Jair Bolsonaro, PL] and the judicial system in Brazil," he said in an interview with GloboNews .

Aral states that this decision by the US leader increases the economic risk in Brazil for companies and investors, with foreign businesspeople viewing the country with greater suspicion when doing business.

"In light of this, we're seeing capital flight right now. It happened yesterday (Wednesday, the 9th), with the dollar rising more than 2%, and it's happening today (Thursday, the 10th) as well. This capital flight is expected to continue, especially now that President Lula has decided to retaliate, or at least signaled the use of the new Reciprocity Law approved in April," he highlighted.

The use of the law and a uniform government response is discussed throughout the morning in a meeting between Lula and ministers Rui Costa (Civil House), Gleisi Hoffmann (Institutional Relations) and Sidônio Palmeira (Secom), at the Palácio da Alvorada.