A growing conflict between Brazil and the United States has put one of the world’s most widely used digital payment systems at the center of an international trade dispute. Brazil’s Pix platform, operated by the country’s central bank, has attracted attention from dozens of nations — and resistance from Washington, where officials are working to shield American companies from its expanding influence.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer identified Pix as one of several trade barriers used to justify imposing new 25% tariffs on Brazilian imports, which took effect this week.
A senior Trump administration official clarified that the U.S. is not seeking to eliminate Pix, but expressed concern about the system receiving preferential treatment. “We’re not asking Brazil to get rid of Pix,” the official said, adding that Washington wants to prevent a situation where “Pix gets special treatment simply because it’s owned and operated by the government.”
Brazilian officials have pushed back, arguing the U.S. complaints are really about protecting American credit card companies. Official U.S. trade documents state that Brazil’s practices “may undermine the competitiveness of U.S. companies engaged in digital trade and electronic payment services.”
Pix allows users to send money instantly through banking apps at no cost for individuals, while offering businesses faster and cheaper transactions compared to traditional card networks. Launched by Brazil’s central bank in 2020, it surpassed card transactions by its third year and now handles more than half of all payment volume in Brazil. Roughly 170 million people — about 80% of Brazil’s population — use the system.
At a press conference last week, Brazil’s central bank chief Gabriel Galipolo called U.S. complaints about Pix’s effect on card revenues and market access “absurd.” He noted that credit card usage had actually grown in absolute numbers because Pix encouraged millions of Brazilians to open bank accounts for the first time. “It would be kind of like saying that creating basic sanitation hurt the revenues of those who own water trucks,” Galipolo said.
He also argued that Pix functions as a public service rather than a competitor. “Pix is really a model and the direction everyone is moving toward,” he said.
Both Mastercard and Visa have acknowledged in securities filings that platforms like Pix could pose a challenge to their business models. The Information Technology Industry Council, a Washington-based trade group representing Visa, Mastercard, Meta, and other technology companies, has spent years urging U.S. trade officials to push for a level playing field in Brazil. The group has argued that international payment firms should receive equal access and treatment under Brazil’s payment regulations. Visa, Mastercard, and the trade group did not respond to requests for comment.
Abec, an industry group representing payment companies in Brazil, said having a variety of payment options — including both card systems and Pix — was good for consumers and society overall.
While card transaction volumes have continued to rise in raw numbers since Pix helped bring more than 70 million Brazilians into the financial system, the card industry’s share of total transactions has declined. Credit cards now account for roughly 15% of transactions, down from about 20% before Pix launched, while debit cards have dropped to around 10% from approximately 26%.
Pix’s reach is also beginning to extend beyond Brazil’s borders. Private companies have already built systems allowing Brazilians to use Pix while traveling internationally, including in the United States, and enabling foreign visitors to use it inside Brazil. There is also growing discussion about linking instant-payment networks from different countries, which has added to concerns in Washington — particularly amid broader talk in major emerging economies about reducing reliance on the U.S. dollar.
Similar instant-payment systems exist elsewhere, including India’s UPI and the FedNow system in the United States, but none has seen the rapid adoption that Pix has achieved. In the first half of this year alone, Brazil’s central bank signed information-sharing agreements about Pix with 65 international counterparts, ranging from wealthier nations like Germany and Canada to emerging economies such as South Africa and Turkey.
U.S. officials have also criticized the structure of Pix, pointing to what they describe as a conflict of interest in having Brazil’s central bank serve as both the operator and regulator of the system. A 2023 paper from the International Monetary Fund similarly contrasted Pix’s governance with systems in China and India, where operation and oversight are handled by separate entities.
When asked whether the Trump administration had proposed moving Pix out of central bank control, Galipolo said it was hard to understand precisely what the U.S. was demanding. He maintained that the current structure ensures Pix remains open and accessible to all eligible participants in the market.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has used the U.S. criticism as a rallying point, defending a system that has become especially popular among small business owners and informal workers as an affordable way to accept digital payments. “No one is going to change our Pix,” Lula wrote on social media Friday. “It’s public, it’s free, and it will stay that way.”
