On the day that Donald Trump’s tariff hike against Brazilian products comes into effect, the Brazilian Foreign Trade Secretariat updated its interactive database, Comexstat, with July data. According to this source, Brazil’s trade flow, which is the sum of the country’s exports and imports, reached US$ 57.55 billion in July alone, which means another historic record.
In July, Brazil broke records in both exports and imports. We exported US$ 32.3 billion in July, a historic record, and imported US$ 25.24 billion, also a record. The trade balance in July was positive at US$ 7.07 billion, which was also among the highest in history.
When we consider the accumulated total for the last 12 months up to July, we also have a record. Brazil’s trade flow over the 12 months totaled US$ 612.46 billion, an increase of 3% over the previous year, which had already been a record. The 12-month trade balance, until July, was US$ 62 billion. This is the lowest balance in five years, but not because of exports, which reached US$ 337 billion in the period, the second highest in history (only 2% below the record registered last year).
The balance fell because of imports, which did set an absolute historic record, at US$ 275 billion in the accumulated 12 months until July.
The main Brazilian products exported in these 12 months until July, in order of importance, were oil, soybeans, iron ore, meats, coffee, vehicles, steel, cellulose and airplanes. The impressive increase in exports of meats, coffee, vehicles, cellulose and airplanes is noteworthy.
Brazil’s foreign trade is quite diversified from a geographical point of view. We do business with the whole world. Our two main trading partners are China and the European Union, with whom we traded, in the last 12 months, a total of US$ 267 billion, or 44% of our total foreign trade in the period. The USA, our third largest partner, accounted for 14% of our foreign trade in the last 12 months until July.
Converting our foreign trade to reais, at the dollar rate on this August 6, 2025, when it closed at around R$ 5.46, the value traded in 12 months reached R$ 3.34 trillion in 12 months.
Considering only the United States, there is a very strong increase in Brazilian exports, probably driven by American traders trying to get ahead of the tariffs. In July, we exported US$ 3.71 billion to the USA, the highest monthly value in history. The same goes for imports from the USA, which reached US$ 4.27 billion in July. In 12 months, Brazilian exports to the USA reached almost US$ 42 billion in the 12 months until July, a historic record. Brazil exports oil, steel products, coffee, transportation materials (airplanes), meats, fruits, machinery and cellulose to the USA. Among the products we buy from the USA are power generators, oil, pharmaceuticals and transportation materials (airplane parts).
