With dark jeans pulled over an ankle monitor attached just hours earlier, Brazil's right-wing former President Jair Bolsonaro made clear on Friday that the humiliation of court-ordered restraints would not curb his role in global politics.

The Trump administration launched a trade investigation against Brazil on Tuesday, just one week after blasting Brasília for its treatment of ally former President Jair Bolsonaro. The trade investigation ostensibly regards unfair trade practices.

A US trade probe suddenly ordered by President Donald Trump on Brazil sent shockwaves through President Luiz Inacio da Silva’s government, according to a senior Brazilian diplomat who described it as an unwarranted threat that has helped to plunge relations to their lowest point in over a century.

The only economic rationale mentioned in Trump’s letter, that of a deficit that his country is said to face with Brazil, is belied by the numbers. The U.S. has sustained consistent surpluses in trade with the South American nation for close to two decades now.