Government officials call for repudiation of Trump's tax; opposition wants to summon ministers

The tariff hike on Brazilian products announced by the United States government prompted the presentation of requests regarding the matter in the House of Representatives . Pro-government congressmen are advocating that the House reject the Americans' stance, while the opposition aims to summon ministers to hear clarification on the Executive's actions.

The leader of the PT, Congressman Lindbergh Farias (RJ), and Congressman Pompeo de Mattos (PDT-RS) presented motions of repudiation to the US government.

The requests were also prompted by the approval this week of a motion of praise in the Foreign Relations Committee for President Donald Trump – a request that was sponsored by the opposition and voted on before the announcement of the new tariffs.

"What's the House's official position so far? The motion of praise for Trump. Something will have to be voted on in the plenary. I have no doubt about that. We'll push for it. And this is different from the official position of the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate," Lindbergh said at a press conference in the Chamber.

Leaders interviewed by CNN , however, believe that a request for repudiation should not be discussed in the plenary by the president of the House, Hugo Motta (Republicanos-PB), who has adopted a lukewarm tone on the tariff hike case.

In the Industry, Commerce and Services Committee, three PT deputies, Ivoneide Caetano (BA), Jack Rocha (ES) and Alexandre Lindenmeyer (RS), also presented requests for a motion of repudiation against Trump.

On another front, the opposition seeks to reverse the narrative that it supported a vote of praise related to the tariff hike.

"The vote of praise was for President Donald Trump's first expression of solidarity with Bolsonaro. Just look at the vote of praise. We are not praising him, as they want to impute, for taxes," said PL leader Sóstenes Cavalcante (RJ).

Opposition lawmakers also seek to blame the government for the tariff increase announced by the US. The group's position is that the Executive branch failed to coordinate and is promoting "ideological diplomacy."

An ally of former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL), congressman Evair de Melo (PP-ES) presented three requests to summon ministers to speak about the tariff hike: one targets Fernando Haddad, from the Treasury, and the other two targets Chancellor Mauro Vieira.

The requests still need to be approved by the plenary – one of them, the second targeting Vieira, was presented to the Foreign Relations Committee.

Evair's intention is to hear from Haddad about the economic impacts of the surtax. The congressman wants clarification from the chancellor regarding "the omission and diplomatic irresponsibility of the Lula administration that culminated in the imposition of tariffs."

Plenary debate

Another request presented by Lindbergh Farias is about the creation of a general committee to talk about the tariff hike, that is, a broad debate in the plenary,

"We have obtained the signatures and are delivering them to the president [Hugo Motta] for him to consider. We have obtained the signatures of the MDB, Solidariedade, Podemos, PSB, PDT, PT, and PCdoB, so that the House can form a general committee, calling upon the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and business sectors to discuss the issue and its consequences," he said.

Lindbergh is banking on dialogue with Motta to schedule the debate as early as next week. Time, however, is short, as Congress will be on recess from Friday (18) until July 31.

In the coming days, with a tight schedule, deputies will make a concerted effort to vote on priority proposals for the government and their caucuses. Furthermore, the House already has two other sessions with general committees scheduled for Wednesday morning (16).