The United States has proposed a 25% additional tariff on a broad range of imports from Brazil from July 22, 2026, marking the first country-specific action under its revamped Section 301 strategy.The move follows a Section 301 investigation launched on July 15, 2025, with the US Trade Representative (USTR) issuing its determination on June 1, 2026, concluding that several Brazilian policies unfairly disadvantaged US commerce.The tariffs will not apply to coffee, beef, orange juice and certain aircraft parts, reflecting Washington’s effort to avoid disrupting US domestic supply chains.The investigation was unusually broad. It covered digital trade and Brazil’s Pix instant payment system, preferential tariffs granted to India and Mexico, weak anti-corruption enforcement, inadequate intellectual property protection, restrictions on US ethanol exports, and illegal deforestation that allegedly gives Brazilian producers an unfair cost advantage.This was a Brazil-specific investigation, and no other country was examined on this exact combination of issues.Separately, Brazil is also under a US Section 301 investigation on forced labour, but it is not part of the ongoing Section 301 investigation into structural excess capacity.India, by contrast, is currently under Section 301 investigations only for forced labour and structural excess capacity, although the annual US National Trade Estimate (NTE) Report continues to criticise India on a wide range of issues, including tariffs, digital trade, data localisation, intellectual property, agriculture, standards, government procurement and regulatory policies.The Brazil case shows that U.S. trade concerns extend far beyond tariffs and can cover almost any policy Washington considers discriminatory or commercially disadvantageous.The US decision to impose a 25% additional tariff on Brazilian imports from July 22, 2026 is a warning for India. It shows that Washington can use trade action not only over tariffs and market access, but also against any policy it sees as unfair to US business.The lesson for India is clear: it cannot meet every US demand. These now range from Russian oil purchases and digital rules to hundreds of trade complaints listed each year in the NTE Report.India should therefore respond calmly to future US actions as they arise, rather than making sweeping concessions through trade deal or outside of it through budget or policy changes to avoid possible investigations or penalties.Any commitments that weaken India’s strategic autonomy, regulatory flexibility or long-term trade interests are likely to cost more than the trade measures they are intended to prevent.Ajay Srivastava is the founder of Global Trade Research Institute (GTRI).