BELEM, Brazil (AP) — When U.S. President Donald Trump imposed tariffs of 50% on Brazilian exports in July, acai producer Ailson Ferreira Moreira felt immediately concerned.
After all, who was going to eat all of that Amazon berry, globally famous as a delicious, refreshing and nutritious superfood, if American consumers suddenly could no longer afford it?
As the main importer of the Brazilian berry, prices of acai smoothies and bowls look certain to go up in the United States.
“The acai that’s all produced here ... If only people here eat it, it’s going to be a lot of acai, right?” Moreira told The Associated Press outside of Belem, an Amazon city of 1.4 million residents that will host this year's U.N. climate summit COP30 climate summit in November. “If there’s too much acai here, people won’t be able to eat it all and the price will drop.”
A single full crate of acai sells for around $50 at local markets in Brazil, a price that is now expected to plummet. The U.S. is by far the largest acai importer of a total Brazilian output currently estimated at about 70,000 tons per year.
The most vulnerable acai producers in the northern state of Para say they have already been hit by tariffs imposed by the U.S. government, as a surplus of the berry without a clear destination starts to mount only days after the new economic scenario unfolded.
More powerful exporters, such as Sao Paulo-state based company Acai Tropicalia Mix, are also feeling the impact.
One of its owners, Rogério de Carvalho, told the AP that last year he exported to the U.S. about 270 tons of acai cream — an industrialized version of the berry — ready for consumption. As tariffs started to loom, he said, American importers steered away and clients suspended negotiations. Until the end of July, de Carvalho estimates that his company sold 27 tons to the U.S.
“That's 1.5 million Brazilian reais ($280,000) that we lost,” the businessman said. “We are confident there will be a deal between the two countries to allow not only our clients to return, but also getting some new ones.”
Trump has linked the higher tariffs on Brazil to the trial of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is now under house arrest for his alleged role in leading an alleged coup plot to remain in office, despite his election loss to current leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
And despite several Brazilian exports being exempted from the tariffs, acai berries aren't among them.
Brazil's industry ministry didn't reply to a request for comment on whether acai berries are among the items that remain on the negotiating table with U.S. trade representatives.
Nearly all of the acai consumed in the U.S. originates from Brazil, with the state of Para alone accounting for 90% of the country’s total production. Several communities in the Amazon depend on its harvest.
The harvesting of acai is a physically demanding job that requires workers to climb tall trees with minimal safety equipment, and then sliding down branches full of berries to fill baskets and then place them carefully in crates. Analysts say its producers also help protect the rainforest from illegal loggers, miners and cattle ranchers.
The night markets of Belem, such as the Ver-o-Peso acai market, are a hub of activity where the freshly harvested berries are brought in by boat and prepared for sale.
The Brazilian Association of Fruit and Derivative Producers and Exporters estimates there was an explosive growth of acai exports from Para state, from less than one ton in 1999 to more than 61,000 tons in 2023. Another explosive rise was expected for this year, before the tariffs.
On Thursday, Brazil requested consultations at the World Trade Organization over tariffs imposed by the Trump administration against the South American nation that went into effect on Wednesday.
That could be took little too late for acai harvester Mikael Silva Trindade, who agrees that the future of the trade is at risk as higher U.S. tariffs can disrupt the delicate balance of supply and demand that holds the industry.
“There will be nowhere to market (the excess of acai),” Trindade told the AP as he picked berries in Para state. “The more you export, the more valuable it becomes. But if there’s too much to sell, it will stay here and become cheap.”
Mauricio Savarese reported from Sao Paulo.
Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
Ailson Ferreira Moreira prepares acai berries to be sold on Combu Island, Belem, Brazil, Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Paulo Santos)
Kenedy Leao carries baskets of acai berries for sale at the Ver-o-Peso riverside market in Belem, Brazil, Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Paulo Santos)
A worker holds acai berries for sale on Combu Island, Belem, Brazil, Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Paulo Santos)
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. forces in the Caribbean Sea have seized another sanctioned oil tanker that the Trump administration says has ties to Venezuela, part of a broader U.S. effort to take control of the South American country’s oil.
The U.S. Coast Guard boarded the tanker, named Veronica, early Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote on social media. The ship had previously passed through Venezuelan waters and was operating in defiance of President Donald Trump’s "established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean,” she said.
U.S. Southern Command said Marines and sailors launched from the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford to take part in the operation alongside a Coast Guard tactical team, which Noem said conducted the boarding as in previous raids. The military said the ship was seized “without incident.”
Several U.S. government social media accounts posted brief videos that appeared to show various parts of the ship’s capture. Black-and-white footage showed at least four helicopters approaching the ship before hovering over the deck while armed troops dropped down by rope. At least nine people could be seen on the deck of the ship.
The Veronica is the sixth sanctioned tanker seized by U.S. forces as part of the effort by Trump’s administration to control the production, refining and global distribution of Venezuela’s oil products and the fourth since the U.S. ouster of Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid almost two weeks ago.
The Veronica last transmitted its location on Jan. 3 as being at anchor off the coast of Aruba, just north of Venezuela’s main oil terminal. According to the data it transmitted at the time, the ship was partially filled with crude.
Days later, the Veronica became one of at least 16 tankers that left the Venezuelan coast in contravention of the quarantine that U.S. forces have set up to block sanctioned ships, according to Samir Madani, the co-founder of TankerTrackers.com. He said his organization used satellite imagery and surface-level photos to document the ship movements.
The ship is currently listed as flying the flag of Guyana and is considered part of the shadow fleet that moves cargoes of oil in violation of U.S. sanctions.
According to its registration data, the ship also has been known as the Gallileo, owned and managed by a company in Russia. In addition, a tanker with the same registration number previously sailed under the name Pegas and was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for being associated with a Russian company moving cargoes of illicit oil.
As with prior posts about such raids, Noem and the military framed the seizure as part of an effort to enforce the law. Noem argued that the multiple captures show that “there is no outrunning or escaping American justice.”
Speaking to reporters at the White House later Thursday, Noem declined to say how many sanctioned oil tankers the U.S. is tracking or whether the government is keeping tabs on freighters beyond the Caribbean Sea.
“I can’t speak to the specifics of the operation, although we are watching the entire shadow fleet and how they’re moving,” she told reporters.
But other officials in Trump's Republican administration have made clear they see the actions as a way to generate cash as they seek to rebuild Venezuela’s battered oil industry and restore its economy.
Trump met with executives from oil companies last week to discuss his goal of investing $100 billion in Venezuela to repair and upgrade its oil production and distribution. His administration has said it expects to sell at least 30 million to 50 million barrels of sanctioned Venezuelan oil.
Associated Press writer Ben Finley contributed to this report.
This story has been corrected to show the Veronica is the fourth, not the third, tanker seized by U.S. forces since Maduro’s capture and the ship also has been known as the Gallileo, not the Galileo.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during a press conference, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks at a news conference at Harry Reid International Airport, Nov. 22, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ronda Churchill, File)
