1. United States
2. Fla.
3. Letter

The Section 301 tariffs targeting Brazil over its Pix payment system need to stop. Pix is a central bank digital currency — digital money issued in Brazil's own currency by Brazil's own central bank. It's not an unfair trade practice. Punishing Brazil for building a better payment system makes the U.S. look petty and protectionist, and the world is noticing. The real winners here are Visa and Mastercard, who can't compete with a free, instant, widely adopted system. Meanwhile, the Republican-controlled House just passed a bill banning the Federal Reserve from even studying a U.S. digital currency — driven by crypto industry lobbying. So we're blocking our own innovation while attacking a foreign country for succeeding at it. The European Central Bank is targeting a digital euro by 2029. If the U.S. keeps protecting entrenched financial interests instead of modernizing, the dollar's role in international transactions is genuinely at risk. These tariffs won't work anyway — their scope is limited by fears of raising prices on coffee, orange juice, and beef. They'll strengthen President Lula politically and do nothing to slow Pix. End this fight, and push back on the special-interest pressure blocking a U.S. digital payment system before we fall further behind.