Brazil was not the only country targeted for political reasons. India faces a comparable rate for buying Russian oil. Mr Trump warned Mark Carney, Canada’s prime minister, that recognising a Palestinian state would make trade negotiations “very hard”.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva spoke by phone on Thursday, their offices said, discussing a broad range of topics that included tariffs imposed by the United States on goods from both countries.

The 50% tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump on many Brazilian products took effect Wednesday, a situation that China is already taking advantage of by opening its market to Brazilian coffee, one of the products most affected by the trade measures.