US tariff hikes are not a tragedy, they are a wake-up call for Brazil.

The tariff hikes imposed by the United States do not represent a tragedy for Brazil. On the contrary: it is a warning, a call to national conscience. Brazil is much greater than any external attempt at intimidation. We have natural resources, an entrepreneurial people, and a global vocation. It is time to act with patriotism and courage.

This protectionist measure cannot push us into a spiral of pessimism. Brazil's history is full of episodes in which we were treated as a "little colony," a peripheral country, a "third world." But we are not that—and never have been. Brazil is gigantic by nature.

The response must come with the firmness of someone who knows their own strength. The example of small businesses is proof of the resilience of the Brazilian people. It is these small businesses, united in collective models, that have transformed realities, innovated, and created economic and social paradigms. These same Brazilians continue to be entrepreneurial, even in the face of adversity.

Return to subservience? To resignation? To bow our heads? Never. This is the moment to reaffirm: Brazil belongs to Brazilians. We are patriots, we defend our sovereignty, and we will not accept impositions that affect our development model.

Last year alone, a bakery opened every six minutes in the country. By 2025, that number will rise to one every four minutes. And where are these businesses emerging? In the outskirts, in working-class neighborhoods, where the real strength of the Brazilian economy pulsates. This is the Brazil that is succeeding—through its own effort, creativity, and courage.

Our challenge now is to add value to what we already have that is unique and irreplaceable: our riches. The United States does not have the Amazon, it does not have the six biomes, it does not have the abundance of strategic mineral resources for the energy of the future. Nor does it have Brazilian creativity, which stems from cultural diversity and the ability to improvise, innovate and undertake.

Even if there are isolated impacts on some production chains, it's necessary to be clear: the greatest losses will fall on the Americans themselves. The numbers already point to significant losses for the United States from this type of retaliation. The globalized economy does not tolerate this type of action for very long.

What this measure should provoke in us is the exact opposite of resignation: motivation. Opening new markets, strengthening local production chains, and expanding the Brazilian presence in territories where we have never been before. That is the way forward.

This is the moment for Brazil to look in the mirror and see its true size. We are not small. We are not dependent. We are not a colony. This is the opportunity to show the world—and, above all, ourselves—that Brazil is great, powerful, sovereign. And that it is ready to occupy the place that has always belonged to it. "Brazil belongs to Brazilians."