The US President, Donald Trump, has signed a decree that confirms the 40 percent import tariff on all Brazilian products, to be added to the current 10 percent, reaching 50 percent, effective from August 6.
The decree contains a list of 700 exceptions, which includes pig iron, niobium ferroalloys, direct reduction Iron (DRI), and iron ore.
Steel products were not affected, as all imports of steel products by the US are already subject to a 50 percent import tariff.
Earlier this week, a group of independent pig iron producers in the state of Minas Gerais had halted production activities due to the cancelation of orders from their clients in the US.
During the first half of 2025, the US was the destination of 88 percent of the Brazilian exports of pig iron and 8.5 percent for niobium ferroalloys. For iron ore and DRI the figures were not relevant.