RIO DE JANEIRO (TNND) — The U.S. Treasury Department on Wednesday announced sanctions against Brazilian Supreme Federal Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes for allegedly suppressing freedom of expression and the ongoing trial of former President Jair Bolsonaro.

“De Moraes is responsible for an oppressive campaign of censorship, arbitrary detentions that violate human rights, and politicized prosecutions — including against former President Jair Bolsonaro,” Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said in a statement.

Bolsonaro was charged with trying to overturn his 2022 election loss to current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

The Treasury said the action was being taken under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, which targets perpetrators of serious human rights abuse around the world.

The decision orders the freezing of any assets or property de Moraes may have in the U.S.

Earlier this month, the U.S. State Department announced visa restrictions on Brazilian judicial officials, including de Moraes.

"Brazilian Supreme Federal Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes’s political witch hunt against Jair Bolsonaro created a persecution and censorship complex so sweeping that it not only violates basic rights of Brazilians, but also extends beyond Brazil’s shores to target Americans," Secretary Marco Rubio said.

President Donald Trump also signed an executive order on Wednesday, implementing an additional 40% tariff on Brazil, bringing the total tariff amount to 50% beginning Aug. 1.

Trump previously threatened to impose a 50% tariff on Brazil in a letter he sent earlier this month. He threatened to put the tariff in place if Brazil did not end its trial against Bolsonaro.

The order signed on Wednesday accuses the Brazilian government of “serious human rights abuses that have undermined the rule of law in Brazil."

Trump has described Bolsonaro as a friend and hosted the former Brazilian president at his Mar-a-Lago resort when both were in power in 2020.

In a separate fact sheet, Trump imposed “universal 50% tariffs on imports of semi-finished copper products,” including pipes, wires, and sheets, and “copper-intensive derivative products."