Brazil plans levies on US tech firms after Trump steel tariffs, report says

Brazil's government is planning to impose taxes on U.S. tech companies if President Donald Trump goes ahead with his plans to introduce a 25% tariff on all steel imports into the United States, newspaper Folha de S.Paulo reported on Monday.

The South American country is one of the largest sources of U.S. steel imports as well as a top market for many big tech companies.

According to the report, which cites an unnamed Brazilian authority, firms facing potential Brazilian levies include Amazon, Meta Platforms' Facebook and Instagram, and Alphabet-owned Google.

Brazil's Finance Minister Fernando Haddad said the government would only comment on the matter after Trump's measures are made official.

"The government has decided to comment only on concrete decisions, not announcements that could be misinterpreted or revised," he told reporters. "The government will wait for an official decision before making any statement."

A finance ministry official in 2024 had already floated the idea of a potential tax on big tech companies in order to meet fiscal targets in case there was a shortfall in government revenue this year.