President Donald Trump announced Wednesday he planned to hit Brazil with a 50% tariff, in part due to the treatment of its former president and his political ally, Jair Bolsonaro.

Brazil's financial markets looked set for a bumpy start on Thursday, with traders still trying to grasp U.S. President Donald Trump's shock move to slap 50% tariffs on Latin America's largest economy rather than the 10% previously indicated.

Trump announced a 50 percent tariff on all Brazilian goods, escalating a feud over Brazil’s prosecution of former president Jair Bolsonaro. Brazil vowed to retaliate.

The exchange with the South American nation suggests the U.S. president also sees trade as a tool to influence other policies of foreign countries.

President Donald Trump sent out a slew of letters Wednesday to some global trading partners, advising them of tariff levels as high as 50% for their exports to the United States.

On the battlefield: Ukrainian officials are reporting a dangerous shift in Russia’s attacks. Overnight, Moscow hit Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, with more missiles and drones. Dozens of workers were rescued after a tunnel collapsed in Los Angeles.

"America will, once again, build a DOMINANT Copper Industry," Trump said in a post on his Truth Social media platform.

Donald Trump’s threat to impose 50% tariffs on Brazilian goods sent the country’s currency plunging as the US leader sharply escalated a dispute with Latin America’s largest nation and leftist leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.