Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes during the plenary session of the supreme court on Dec. 10, 2025. Ton Molina/NurPhoto via Getty Images

The United States removed Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes from its sanctions list on Friday after initially adding him over his role in leading the trial against former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.

De Moraes' wife and the Lex Institute, which she leads, were also taken off the list, according to documents from the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control. Brazil's government celebrated the move, which came after a weekend phone conversation between President Trump and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

The Trump administration had sanctioned the judge in July, accusing him of using his position to authorize arbitrary pretrial detentions and suppress freedom of expression in Brazil.

In August 2024, de Moraes also ordered that Elon Musk's X platform be suspended in Brazil over allegations it was not doing enough to target misinformation. The ban on the site was lifted two months later. At the time, Musk was a major ally of Mr. Trump and was helping finance his presidential campaign.

A senior Trump administration official said the sanctions were lifted since the U.S. saw the passage of an important amnesty bill by Brazil's lower house as a signal that lawfare conditions in Brazil are improving. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the administration's views on foreign policy interests.

The move represents a thawing of sorts in the frosty relationship between the two governments and follows a number of meetings and calls that both have described in positive terms. Mr. Trump had seen Lula's predecessor Bolsonaro as an ally, with the Brazilian leader even dubbed the "Trump of the Tropics" when he came into office.

During Bolsonaro's trial, Mr. Trump called his treatment an "international disgrace." In a July 9 letter to Lula posted to social media, Mr. Trump said the trial was a "witch hunt that should end IMMEDIATELY!"

And in announcing de Moraes' sanction in July, Secretary of State Marco Rubio alleged that the judge had "abused his authority by engaging in a targeted and politically motivated effort designed to silence political critics through the issuance of secret orders compelling online platforms, including U.S. social media companies, to ban the accounts of individuals for posting protected speech. Moraes further abused his position to authorize unjust pre-trial detentions and undermine freedom of expression."

Bolsonaro was accused of masterminding a plot to stay in power despite his 2022 election defeat to Lula.

He was convicted and sentenced to more than 27 years in prison. The embattled 70-year-old leader started serving his sentence last month while still requesting to be put on house arrest due to his poor health. The massive upheaval his allies expected upon his arrest did not materialize, though he remains a politically powerful figure ahead of next year's elections.

Brazil's current government characterized the lifting of sanctions as a "big defeat" for Bolsonaro's family.

"It was Lula who put this repeal [of the sanctions] on Donald Trump's desk, in a dignifying and sovereign dialogue," said Gleisi Hoffmann, Brazil's minister for institutional relations. "It is a big defeat for the family of Jair Bolsonaro, traitors who have conspired against Brazil and the judiciary."

Lula's leftist administration has long accused Eduardo Bolsonaro, a lawmaker and son of the former president, of misleading Mr. Trump on de Moraes and other members of the court. Eduardo Bolsonaro said he received the news of the sanctions being lifted from de Moraes "with regret."

The younger Bolsonaro, who announced in March that he would start living in the U.S. in order to lobby the Trump administration to help his father avoid jail, said he would continue to fight for Jair Bolsonaro.

"The lack of internal cohesion and the insufficient support for initiatives pursued abroad contributed to the worsening of the current situation," Eduardo Bolsonaro wrote on his social media channels, after Mr. Trump's reversal. "We sincerely hope that President Donald Trump's decision will be successful in defending the strategic interests of the American people, as is his duty."

In initially sanctioning de Moraes, the Treasury Department had cited the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, which targets perpetrators of human rights abuse and corrupt officials. De Moraes said the use of the act against him was "illegal and regrettable."

Also in July, the Trump administration imposed a 40% tariff on Brazilian products on top of a 10% tariff imposed earlier, justifying the tariffs by saying that Brazil's policies and criminal prosecution of Bolsonaro constituted an economic emergency.

However, last month the White House announced it was removing the 40% tariffs on certain Brazilian imports, including beef and coffee. The U.S. ran a $6.8 billion trade surplus last year with Brazil, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Mr. Trump and Lula started mending fences at the United Nations' General Assembly in September, which was followed by their first private meeting in Malaysia in October and subsequent phone conversations.

The Brazilian president has said he wasn't only trying to reverse the increase on tariffs but also to end the sanctions on de Moraes and some members of his government who were also hit by the measure.

Separately, Lula has urged Latin American states to help avoid a conflict in Venezuela as the Trump administration orders military action against vessels allegedly linked to drug cartels.

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