Brazil

Trump signs decree imposing 50% tariff on Brazilian goods, with exceptions

U.S. President Donald Trump has signed a decree implementing an additional 40% tariff on Brazil, raising the total tariff to 50%, according to a statement released by the White House on Wednesday (30).

The tariffs will take effect in seven days. The decree includes annexes listing 694 exceptions, such as Embraer aircraft, aircraft parts, orange juice, wood, various wood-related materials, pulp, electrical equipment, and petroleum, which had already been removed from previous U.S. tariff lists for other countries.

On the same day, The American Chamber of Commerce for Brazil (Amcham Brazil) released an official statement expressing concern over the United States’ decision to impose a 50% tariff on certain Brazilian products. A survey conducted by Amcham between July 24 and 30 revealed that more than half of Brazilian exporting companies estimate that the new tariff may lead to a total interruption or a sharp decline (greater than 50%) in sales to the U.S. market.

Brazil's building materials market may strengthen further in second half of 2025

Sales of building materials products in Brazil have outperformed expectations and are projected to achieve higher growth than initially forecast this year, a trend driven by Brazil's economic recovery, rising employment, and increased income levels. Paulo Engler, the new president of the Brazilian Building Materials Industry Association (Abramat), stated that there is a strong possibility for the industry's annual turnover to exceed the initial 2.8% projection and grow by over 3% year-on-year in 2025.

"Brazil's building materials market is currently performing very well," Engler said. "As sales typically strengthen in the second half of the year, there is significant potential to surpass original expectations."

According to the latest survey data from Abramat, the building materials industry in Brazil saw a 4.9% year-on-year sales increase in the 12-month period ending June 2025. During the first half of 2025, sales rose by 2.2% compared to the same period last year.

Mexico

Mexico’s exports surge 10.6% in june, led by manufacturing

Mexico’s total exports of goods reached US$54 billion in June 2025, reflecting a 10.6% year-over-year increase, reports the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI). This growth was fueled by a 12.4% rise in non-oil exports, while oil exports fell sharply by 30.4%. Exports to the United States surged by 15.0%, reaffirming the strength of Mexico’s key trade relationship, while exports to other global markets showed a modest increase of 0.8%.

Nearly half of tree species in Mexico and Central America threatened with extinction

Of the 4,046 known tree species found only in Mesoamerica, 1,867, or 46%, are threatened with extinction, according to a new study published in the journal Plants, People, Planet. The research represents the first comprehensive assessment of Mesoamerican trees.

The study was part of the Global Tree Assessment, a decade-long initiative to evaluate the conservation status of all the world’s tree species. Researchers used the standards of the IUCN Red List, which tracks how close species are to disappearing worldwide. Before this assessment, less than 20% (700) of the tree species of the region had been assessed on the IUCN Red List before 2019.

The assessment found that Guatemala, Nicaragua and El Salvador have the highest percentages of threatened species, at 97%, 95% and 89% respectively.

Mexico, despite having the largest number of tree species in the region, still faces significant challenges, with 888 threatened single-country endemic tree species, while Costa Rica has 227 threatened single-country endemic species. (“Threatened” covers the three IUCN Red List categories of vulnerable, endangered, and critically endangered.)