The United States cited Pix – the main way Brazilian small businesses receive payments – in a commercial investigation into “unfair practices”. According to the document, the payment system would represent a form of state competition for private credit cards. Based on this, the North American country is analyzing a 25% tax on Brazilian products, a decision that could be made by July 15th. According to Sebrae, the tool facilitates payments and reduces costs for entrepreneurs.
According to the survey “Financial Habits of Small Businesses”, carried out by Sebrae and the Institute for Social, Political and Economic Research (Ipespe), almost six out of every 10 small business owners have Pix as their main means of receiving sales. Another 53% prefer this instrument to pay their business partners.
In the particular case of individual microentrepreneurs (MEI), adherence to Pix was even greater. Sebrae’s research revealed that 97% of them use the platform as a payment alternative. For 28% of these projects, the modality accounts for more than 75% of all revenue and for another 20%, the payment method is responsible for around 51% of receipts.
“It is an unfair and unfounded assessment on the part of the United States government because the payment system does not interfere in the commerce and relationships of companies in the credit card sector. More than that, it is a form of payment that has no return and has become the favorite of small businesses due to its rapid receipt and maintenance of the cash flow of these companies. Basically, it is one of the ways that the sector uses to create more growth opportunities and increase job creation”, he assesses Rodrigo Soares, president of Sebrae.
According to data from the Central Bank, PIX has around 170 million Individual users (80% of the population) and more than 24 million Corporate users. Annually, it moves more than R$30 trillion, which is equivalent to almost 3 times the Brazilian GDP and almost 20% of the North American GDP.
“This is the size of the market that would be competed for by Big Techs (Apple Pay, Google Pay, Amazon Pay, Meta Pay and Microsoft), if the Central Bank did not offer this service for free and a reference for global efficiency” says Rodrigo Soares, who also concludes “This is not an unfair trade practice, alleged by Trump to impose increased tariffs on our exports. But rather, market dispute”.
Consolidated
Launched in 2020, Pix reached a universalization stage in less than four years. According to data from the Central Bank, it is already the most used payment method by Brazilians. In 2025, Pix broke its historical annual record by moving a total of R$35.4 trillion, recording almost 80 billion transactions. This represents a 33.6% growth in the volume of values transferred compared to the previous year.
Source: www.agenciasebrae.com.br
