US-Brazil payments dispute puts Pix at centre of 25% tariffs

The United States is imposing 25% tariffs on imports from Brazil this week after U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer cited Brazil’s Pix instant-payment system as a trade barrier, Reuters reported. The dispute places a central bank-run payments network used by 80% of Brazil’s population at the centre of a wider argument over public financial infrastructure and competition in digital commerce.

Pix, launched in 2020 by Brazil’s central bank, allows instant electronic payments and has become the country’s largest payment method, according to Reuters. Its structure differs from card networks because the public authority owns and operates the platform, giving banks, merchants and consumers a common rail for transfers.

A senior official in President Donald Trump’s administration told Reuters that Washington was not seeking to eliminate the system. “We’re not asking Brazil to get rid of Pix,” the official said, adding that the White House wanted to avoid a situation in which “Pix gets special treatment simply because it’s owned and operated by the government.”

Brazilian officials have argued that the U.S. criticism is designed to defend American credit card companies, Reuters reported. Documents from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said Brazilian practices “may undermine the competitiveness of U.S. companies engaged in digital trade and electronic payment services,” according to the report.

The commercial stakes have grown as Pix has taken a larger role in online and retail payments. Payments company Ebanx said in February that Pix would account for 45% of Brazil’s online sales by the end of this year, rising to 50% in 2028.

“There has been a lot of trust-building among consumers around Pix, combined with wider availability on websites,” Ebanx Chief Product Officer Eduardo de Abreu said at the time.

A PYMNTS Intelligence report, “Digital Developments: Charting Digital Payment Growth in Latin America,” found that Pix and similar systems have helped households and small businesses outside the traditional banking sector participate in the digital economy. That adoption has made the Brazilian model a reference point for other governments considering instant-payment systems.

Brazil’s central bank has signed agreements this year to share information about Pix with several countries, including Germany, Canada, Turkey and South Africa, Reuters reported. Gabriel Galipolo, the central bank’s chief, told Reuters: “Pix is really a model and the direction everyone is moving toward.”

Reuters also reported that the prospect of national instant-payment systems linking across borders has added to concern in Washington as some emerging economies seek to reduce reliance on the dollar. Such links could, in principle, allow payment networks operated in different jurisdictions to exchange transactions more directly, although the report did not describe any completed cross-border Pix arrangement.

Asked whether the White House had proposed removing Pix from central bank control, Galipolo told Reuters that U.S. demands remained unclear. He said the current structure ensures Pix remains a public platform.

This story draws on original reporting from PYMNTS.