Brazil’s Workers’ Party (PT), the center-left party led by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, plans to intensify attacks on Senator Flávio Bolsonaro after the United States announced new tariffs on Brazilian products, according to single-source reporting from Folha de S.Paulo.
The party intends to repeat the nickname “tariflávio,” a play on the Portuguese word for tariff, to associate Bolsonaro with the U.S. measures. PT figures also plan to call him a “traitor to the homeland,” Folha reported, as the tariff dispute moves from trade policy into Brazil’s election campaign.
A Tariff Fight Turns Political
The Trump administration announced the new measures after an investigation into Brazilian trade practices. Lula’s circle believes the inquiry was opened to clear the way for the tariffs, according to Folha. The report does not include the U.S. government’s detailed justification for the move.
The issue has become politically sensitive because Brazil’s Bolsonaro movement has cultivated close ties with Donald Trump. Flávio Bolsonaro, a senator from Rio de Janeiro, is the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro and a leading figure in the Liberal Party (PL), the main right-wing force opposing Lula.
In 2025, when Trump announced an earlier round of surcharges, he linked the measure to the trial that later convicted Jair Bolsonaro of attempting a coup, Folha reported. Eduardo Bolsonaro, another son of the former president and a former federal deputy, moved to the United States and says he has worked with the U.S. government against Lula’s administration.
Campaign Calculus
Flávio Bolsonaro has tried to limit the political damage. Earlier in July, he asked U.S. authorities to postpone any tariff decision until after Brazil’s election, arguing that imposing charges now would give Lula a political victory.
PT leaders met officials from the Planalto Palace, the seat of Brazil’s executive branch, on Tuesday, July 14, to discuss how to respond to the tariffs for a domestic audience. According to Folha, party leaders considered three possible scenarios: confirmation of the tariffs, a delay in the U.S. decision, or suspension of the measures. They viewed a delay as unlikely and suspension as almost impossible.
Lula used a national sovereignty message after the first tariff round in the second half of 2025, and allies believe it helped improve his standing in opinion polls. Folha reports that the president now wants to carry that tone through the election.
Polling and Pressure Points
Lula allies also see the tariff issue as part of a wider set of problems increasing voter rejection of Flávio Bolsonaro. Folha cited the “Dark Horse” case, in which an audio recording showed the senator asking Banco Master owner Daniel Vorcaro for money to produce a film about Jair Bolsonaro. The newspaper also pointed to a video in which former first lady Michelle Bolsonaro publicly criticized Flávio.
A Quaest poll released Wednesday, July 15, showed Flávio Bolsonaro’s rejection rising since April. The share of voters who said they knew the senator and would not vote for him increased from 52% in April to 57% in July, above the poll’s two-point margin of error.
Lula’s rejection moved in the opposite direction over the same period, from 55% to 50%, also outside the margin of error. The figures give PT strategists a reason to keep the tariff dispute in the campaign spotlight, while Bolsonaro allies face the task of separating their U.S. alignment from measures that may hurt Brazilian exporters.