President Donald Trump likes to wield as much control as he can over judicial matters that interest or can benefit him. This year Trump acted quickly to suffocate the Justice Department's accustomed autonomy. He got serious federal corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a backer of ICE roundups, dropped.

Now Trump is trying to call the shots on court proceedings in foreign democracies — far beyond the Justice Department, which he controls.

Recently, Trump blasted as "insanity" the ongoing corruption trial of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Trump noted with his usual lack of subtlety how the U.S. sends Israel billions for its protection.

The MAGA preference for "tough" heads of state is not new. In his first term, Trump encouraged the "war on drugs" carried out by then-Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte. This effort featured human rights violations and extrajudicial killings by authorities. Trump told Duterte in a 2017 phone call: "What a great job you are doing."

There's an underlying ideology here. Hungary Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a subject of  admiration at the White House, has successfully narrowed the independence of his nation’s judiciary, to enforce what Orban cynically calls his "illiberal democracy."

Now Trump seeks to rig a judicial process in Brazil that centers on former President Jair Bolsonaro, whose political career has striking similarities to that of the American president.

After losing his 2022 reelection bid, Bolsonaro, now 70, allegedly tried to foment a coup to stay in office, for which he’s now on trial. The prosecution has introduced recordings, notes and messages to show Bolsonaro incited violence and sought to undermine his country's election system. On Monday, Bolsonaro sounded more than ever like Trump when he called the case "a witch hunt."

Trump is using tariff policy to punish Brazil. Despite the U.S. running a $6.8 billion trade surplus with Brazil last year, Trump has imposed a 50% tariff on its goods. In a letter justifying the tariff to Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva last week, Trump cited the Bolsonaro prosecution.

If this was supposed to help the Brazilian right, it may backfire. Sources close to Bolsonaro told Reuters they were surprised at the tariff. It has provoked demonstrations and surged support for the left-wing government of the incumbent, known informally as Lula. 

Draconian U.S. tariffs probably will hurt Brazilian business in coffee, oranges, cattle and aviation. Conservative commentators have condemned the move and Bolsonaro's support for it as seditious.

U.S. trade officials are now seeking to make a case against Brazil's trade practices. But the game is clear. Trump adviser Steve Bannon said, "Stop the trial and we will reverse the tariffs."

Using U.S. foreign policy for personal politics has recent precedent. In his first term, Trump tried to prod a Ukrainian probe of U.S. Democrats in a conversation about arms supplies. It didn't work.

So far, Brazil’s trial of Bolsonaro appears to go on unimpeded.

There's also deep domestic intrigue. A panel of Supreme Court justices, not a jury, is hearing the case. Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes leads that panel. He's one of the figures Bolsonaro is accused of personally targeting for ouster in the alleged coup plot.

Also, Brazil Sen. Eduardo Bolsonaro, son of the ex-president, has pushed Trump to impose a visa restriction or some other sanction on Moraes. That hasn’t happened yet.

For the U.S. president, this new tariff is not even about trade. It's about fixing a criminal case for a foreign authoritarian he likes.

Columnist Dan Janison's opinions are his own.