Brazil’s ruling Workers’ Party (PT) and the opposition Liberal Party (PL) escalated their dispute over the United States’ forthcoming 50% tariff on Brazilian imports, turning the debate into a social-media battle of patriotic slogans. On Friday, the PT rolled out a multimedia campaign titled “Defenda o Brasil”, urging supporters to denounce what it called “false patriots” and blaming former president Jair Bolsonaro for the trade setback. The party’s materials portray Bolsonaro and his allies as having courted Washington at the expense of national interests. Within hours, the PL countered with the slogan “Defenda o Brasil do PT”, accusing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s administration of mismanaging ties with Washington. The opposition’s hashtag rose to second place on X, amassing about 97,000 mentions by mid-afternoon, according to social-media tracking cited by Revista Oeste. The rhetoric reflects a broader tussle over responsibility for President Donald Trump’s 9 April decision to slap a 50% levy on all Brazilian goods, effective 1 August. While the PT links the move to Bolsonaro’s alignment with Trump during his 2019-22 term, PL lawmakers say Lula’s foreign-policy stance provoked the White House. Both parties have demanded the other resolve the looming tariff, underscoring the political stakes as Brasília seeks to avert further damage to US-Brazil trade worth roughly US$130 billion last year.