Trump's new Brazil tariffs put Miami politician on the spot in ambassador hearing

Claire Heddles, Miami Herald on Jul 16, 2026

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Florida House Speaker Daniel Perez, a Miami Republican, faced little pushback from Democrats during a confirmation hearing Thursday for his nomination to be the U.S. ambassador to Brazil — except needing to answer for the Trump administration’s new tariff fight with the country.

Late Wednesday, while Perez was sleeping ahead of addressing the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about his nomination, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer announced that the country would be imposing a 25% tariff on certain Brazilian imports.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva shot back overnight on social media, saying that Wednesday would “go down in the history of relations between Brazil and the United States as a lamentable milestone” and promising to pursue reciprocal tariffs.

The sharp escalation between the two countries raises the stakes of Perez’s nomination to the ambassadorial role, but Perez told the committee he was still learning about the U.S.’s motivations for the new tariffs.

“This is a new tariff that was implemented yesterday at some point overnight while I was asleep. I did read the articles this morning,” Perez said in response to questions from Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia. “And USTR has made their decisions. I will learn more about it over the next several weeks.”

Perez acknowledged that the U.S. has a trade surplus with Brazil but didn’t respond directly to Kaine’s argument that a tariff fight would therefore have a larger negative economic impact on the U.S. than Brazil.

“We do have a trade surplus with Brazil, but nevertheless,” Perez said, “there are some industries that have a significant gap.”

Other than the surprise development in the country he’s aiming to move to, Perez faced few challenging questions during Thursday’s group confirmation hearing with a set of recent Trump nominees.

Neither Perez’s support for a tax break for diplomats, which he could personally benefit from, nor his list of legal clients who also had business with the state while he was speaker — revealed in his federal ethics disclosures — came up.

Democrats on the committee spent most of their time grilling the hard-right Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano — nominated to the role of U.S. Ambassador to Slovakia — over his promotion of Christian nationalism and ties to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

Florida Sen. Rick Scott presented Perez to the committee, with a quiet dig at his successor Gov. Ron DeSantis, whom Perez has frequently clashed with.

“I’ve been most impressed with how Danny has changed the fiscal conversation in Tallahassee,” Scott said. “In the year since my time as governor ended, the budget of the state of Florida has grown at an alarming rate. Danny was the first major leader in Tallahassee to say enough is enough.”

Perez’s confirmation still needs to go up for a full Senate vote, which requires a simple majority. Since Republicans hold 53 of the 100 Senate seats, his confirmation is unlikely to fail.