California Governor Gavin Newsom managed to turn a climate summit in the Amazon into a long-distance jab at Donald Trump, seizing on the president’s sudden move to roll back tariffs on Brazilian products and claiming that he deserved the credit.
While visiting Belém for COP 30, Newsom’s press team posted a full-throated, all-caps victory lap on X that sounded like it had been ripped straight from Trump’s own playbook. “WOW! FOLLOWING MY HISTORIC BRAZIL TRIP, ‘DOZY’ DON HAS FINALLY CAVED AND CUT TARIFFS. BEEF AND COFFEE ARE NOW CHEAPER NATIONWIDE,” the message read. “YOU ARE WELCOME!”
Trump’s decision to peel back the steep duties he slapped on Brazilian beef, coffee, cocoa, and other imports earlier this year caused enough political ripples on its own. For months, those tariffs had been blamed for pushing grocery prices even higher, especially in the meat aisle. But for Newsom, the moment was too tempting to pass up. He had come to Brazil to talk climate policy, yet somehow ended up riffing on trade politics in the style of a man he has spent years criticizing.
Onstage at the climate conference, Newsom leaned into the bit. He joked that it was “sad it took Don this long to figure out what I, Gavin ‘Lower the Prices’ Newsom, knew all along,” and delivered another all-caps flourish calling for “NO MORE TARIFFS (TAXES) FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE!!!! STOP THE TAX! STOP THE SCAM! YOU’RE WELCOME, AMERICA!”
WOW! FOLLOWING MY HISTORIC BRAZIL TRIP, “DOZY” DON HAS FINALLY CAVED AND CUT TARIFFS. BEEF AND COFFEE ARE NOW CHEAPER NATIONWIDE. YOU ARE WELCOME! IT IS SAD IT TOOK DON THIS LONG TO FIGURE OUT WHAT I, GAVIN “LOWER THE PRICES” NEWSOM, KNEW ALL ALONG. NO MORE TARIFFS (TAXES) FOR… pic.twitter.com/y6pBg41cNY
— Governor Newsom Press Office (@GovPressOffice) November 21, 2025
The governor’s remarks came as growing frustration among voters who have been dealing with higher food prices. Brazil is a major supplier of beef and coffee to the United States, and the earlier tariffs had quickly become a sore spot both for retailers and consumers. The rollback was cheered by Brazilian officials, who framed it as a victory for their agricultural sector, and by economists who had argued the tariffs were doing little besides inflaming an already touchy inflation environment.
For Newsom, though, the message was less about global economics and more about political contrast. Over the past year, he has sharpened his approach to Trump, sometimes adopting the president’s tone in order to mock it, other times casting himself as the adult in the room on issues like climate change. The Brazil trip offered a chance to do both. Trump skipped the conference, a fact Newsom repeatedly highlighted as he tried to align himself with international climate goals and paint the White House as out of step.
Trump’s duties had been widely viewed as part of his ongoing blend of economic nationalism and personal loyalty politics, a gesture of solidarity with Jair Bolsonaro, the former Brazilian president who faced criminal charges and convicted of attempting to overturn his own election defeat. Rolling those tariffs back, even partially, was an acknowledgment that the fallout at home had grown too large to ignore.
Whether Newsom’s self-appointed role in the policy shift convinces anyone is another matter. The White House has offered no indication that his trip factored into the decision. But in the current political moment, where messaging tends to matter as much as substance, the California governor managed to turn a rather technical trade change into something splashier. He flew to the Amazon to talk climate and came back with a viral headline about cheaper steak and cheaper coffee. And if he can needle Trump in the process, all the better.
