# US lifts sanctions on Brazilian judge Alexandre de Moraes after ties improve
The US Treasury Department has lifted sanctions on Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, easing a punitive measure imposed during a period of sharp tension between Washington and Brasília.
According to AFP, via France 24, the sanctions were lifted on Friday after efforts to repair diplomatic ties between Brazil and the United States. A senior Trump administration official said continued designation was inconsistent with US foreign policy interests. The move affected Moraes, his wife Viviane Barci de Moraes and a company linked to the family.
Moraes has been a central figure in the Brazilian legal and political dispute over former president Jair Bolsonaro. He oversaw the trial that ended with Bolsonaro convicted and later jailed, and the sanctions on Moraes were part of a broader set of actions taken by Donald Trump’s administration during its fallout with Brazil. Trump, a longtime Bolsonaro ally, had denounced the trial as a witch hunt.
The lifting of sanctions comes after months of thawing ties. Trump and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva held their first official meeting in October, and diplomats on both sides have since worked through a series of negotiations. Earlier, the Trump administration also exempted key Brazilian exports from a 40-percent tariff that had been imposed over the Bolsonaro case.
Moraes welcomed the decision, saying the truth would eventually prevail once it reached US authorities. His comments framed the outcome as a vindication after months of pressure from Bolsonaro supporters and allies abroad.
The move is also significant because it follows a broader change in how the administration is treating Brazil after months of public confrontation. The same article notes that Ties between the two countries had already been strained by Moraes’s role in regulating social media and by his temporary blocking of X and accounts popular with conservative voices.
Bolsonaro himself began serving a 27-year jail term in November after his conviction for a scheme to stop Lula taking office after the 2022 election. His son Eduardo, who lobbied in the United States for sanctions against judicial officials, said the lifting of sanctions was received with regret.
For Brazil, the decision marks a diplomatic shift with possible implications beyond one judge. It indicates that Washington is willing to unwind some of the pressure it had put on Brasília as the bilateral relationship normalizes, while leaving other disputes unresolved.
Citation Map
The sanctions reversal, its timing, the reasons cited by a senior official, and the Brazil-US diplomatic context are all from the supplied AFP via France 24 report.
