Hello and welcome to Newsout from the BBC World Service. We're coming to you live from London.

I'm James Menendez. And we're going to begin today with a diplomatic crisis between the two biggest

countries in the Americas by population and by the size of their economies, the United States and Brazil.

On Wednesday, President Trump made good on his threat earlier this month to raise tariffs on imports from Brazil.

There are some exemptions, but from next week, those bringing in goods such as coffee and beef

will have to pay a whopping 50% tax on top of the value of the products.

In addition, the US Treasury has announced sanctions on the Brazilian Supreme Court judge

who's leading the investigation into whether the former President Jair Bolsonaro and his allies

conspired to carry out a coup after he lost the last election.

In investigation, the White House described as

politically motivated persecution. Well, this is how the man who won that election, President Lula,

reacted to the news.

I'm leaving here in a hurry because I'm heading to a meeting to defend another kind of sovereignty.

The sovereignty of the Brazilian people in response to the measures announced by the President of the United States.

So, today for me, is a sacred day of sovereignty.

Antonio Patriota is Brazil's ambassador to the UK. He's also a former foreign minister.

I spoke to him a little earlier, and I asked him how much of a setback President Trump's

50% tariffike is for Brazil. It is a significant blow. Of course, we regard these as unilateral and illegal measures. Exemptions have

been announced to about 40% of our exports to the United States, but they will still affect

several sectors very significantly. We, of course, reserve our right to resort not only to the

World Trade Organization, but also to adopt countervailing measures.

So what sort of measures are you considering then?

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