As President Donald Trump’s global tariffs go into effect, Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva remains staunchly opposed to making deals with the U.S. The South American leader has been an outspoken critic of U.S. tariffs, which he sees as a bullying tactic.
“The day my intuition says Trump is ready to talk, I won’t hesitate to call him,” Lula told Reuters. “But today my intuition says he doesn’t want to talk. And I won’t humiliate myself.”
More than 60 countries and the European Union were hit with new tariffs just after midnight on Thursday. While the baseline rate is 10%, select nations, like Brazil, face additional penalties that push the total tariff up to 50%.
In the past, Lula slammed Trump’s tariffs as “unacceptable blackmail.”
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On July 31, one day after announcing an additional 40% tariff on Brazil, Trump said that Lula “can talk to me anytime he wants.” The Brazilian president seemed to respond in a post on X without mentioning Trump by name. He said that his country has “always been open to dialogue.”
“The ones who determine Brazil’s direction are the Brazilians and their institutions. At this moment, we are working to protect our economy, businesses, and workers, and to respond to the tariff measures of the U.S. government,” Lula wrote.
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The dispute between Trump and Lula goes deeper than trade deals. The White House has been open about its opposition to Brazil’s treatment of its former President Jair Bolsonaro.
This was emphasized in an executive order that Trump signed last month in which he decried “the Government of Brazil’s politically motivated persecution, intimidation, harassment, censorship, and prosecution” of Bolsonaro.
Lula told Reuters that Brazil’s Supreme Court “does not care what Trump says, and it should not.” He also reportedly said that Bolsonaro was a “traitor to the homeland” who should face another trial for provoking Trump’s intervention.
“But this now is not a small intervention. It’s the president of the United States thinking he can dictate rules for a sovereign country like Brazil. It’s unacceptable,” Lula said.
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Bolsonaro, who was defeated by Lula in 2022, was recently placed under house arrest amid ongoing legal proceedings over his alleged attempt to overturn the country’s presidential election results.
Brazil’s president is seemingly unafraid of entering negotiations with Trump. Though he said that there were no pending reciprocal tariffs, Lula told Reuters he was planning to call the leaders of BRICS member states to discuss a possible joint response to the U.S.
Additionally, according to Reuters, Lula said Brazil was looking at joining a collective complaint with other countries at the World Trade Organization.
