Trump had a “good conversation” by phone with Lula about “trade” and “sanctions”

Washington.– The American president, Donald Trump, announced this Tuesday that he had held a new telephone conversation with his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva, which he described as “very good” and in which, according to the Republican, both discussed “trade” and sanctions.

“We had a great conversation. We talked about trade. We talked about sanctions, because, as you know, I sanctioned them in relation to certain things that happened,” Trump explained when asked about the subject at the end of an event at the White House. The New York leader referred to the additional 40% tariffs that Washington activated in the summer for products imported from Brazil in retaliation for the criminal prosecution against his political ally, the former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, sentenced in September to 27 years in prison for trying to stage a coup after Lula’s electoral victory. Trump signed an executive order at the end of November to remove those additional tariffs on certain products from Brazil, such as beef, vegetables, coffee and cocoa, after having negotiated with Lula himself. “We had a very good conversation. He is very good, I like him. We had some good meetings, as you know, but today we had a very good conversation,” explained Trump without adding anything about the possibility of a next meeting with his Brazilian counterpart. The recent rapprochement between the two comes after Trump and Lula held several phone calls and a cordial meeting in Malaysia at the end of October. Trump, who has assured that he will meet with Lula soon, reduced tariffs on Brazil after the harsh Republican electoral setback in several important US elections in early November have redoubled the White House’s concern about inflation in the country, which is driven by tariffs, and the high cost of living.