Beef, açaí and orange juice exempt from new U.S. forced-labor tariff proposal

One day after the United States proposed a 25% tariff on Brazilian imports, citing trade practices deemed harmful to U.S. commerce, the U.S. government on Wednesday (June 3) proposed additional tariffs of 12.5% on products from Brazil and 59 other countries. The new duty is based on an investigation into imports of goods allegedly produced with forced labor.

The document defines forced labor as any work or service required from a person under threat and for which that person has not volunteered.

The new tariffs will not take effect immediately, as they remain subject to public consultation and review. Public hearings on the proposal are scheduled to begin on July 7.

The resolution calls for tariffs on all products from those countries, except for a long list of exemptions spanning more than 80 pages.

Products exempt from the new 12.5% tariff include:

• beef
• tomatoes
• Brazil nuts
• bananas
• pineapples
• mangoes
• coffee, except instant coffee
• barley
• açaí
• orange juice

Datamar’s seaborne export cargo data shows that Brazil exported 184,014 metric tons of orange juice to the United States between January and April 2026, down 28.9% year over year. The Mercosur harmonized codes analyzed were 2009.10.00, 2009.12.00, and 2009.19.00.

The chart below shows the monthly export volumes recorded on the DataLiner platform:

Orange Juice Exports to the United States | Jan 2023 – Apr 2026 | WTMT

Source: DataLiner (click here to request a demo)

Products exempt from this new tariff, but not from the previous one, would be subject to the 25% duty. Items that are not included on either exemption list would face a combined tariff of 37.5%.

Source: Globo Rural

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