Brazil has formally rejected the legitimacy of a U.S. investigation into its trade practices, filing a 91-page rebuttal that describes the probe as an improper use of unilateral American law and urges that any dispute be settled at the World Trade Organization. The inquiry—opened by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative on 15 July under Section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act—seeks to determine whether Brazil’s rules on digital commerce, the Pix payments network, intellectual-property protection, ethanol tariffs and environmental enforcement are “unreasonable or discriminatory.” Brasilia counters that its policies comply with multilateral standards, noting that more than 70 percent of U.S. exports already enter the country duty-free and that the United States ran a $29.3 billion goods surplus with Brazil in 2024. Tensions have intensified since President Donald Trump imposed a blanket 50 percent tariff on most Brazilian goods earlier this year, a move Washington links to what it calls political persecution of former president Jair Bolsonaro. Brazil has requested WTO consultations over the duties; the United States accepted the talks while invoking a national-security exception it says shields the measures from formal review. While rejecting Washington’s authority to act outside the WTO, the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva says it remains open to “constructive dialogue.” A public hearing at the USTR is set for 3 September, and Vice President Geraldo Alckmin is lobbying for a broader list of U.S. exemptions to soften the impact on Brazilian exporters.