Lula declares himself a friend of Trump and minimizes the impact of tariffs against Brazil

São Paulo.- Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva declared himself this Tuesday a “friend” of his US counterpart, Donald Trump, and downplayed the impact of the tariffs that the Republican leader imposed on Brazil and later lowered. “Even the imposition of tariffs that the United States applied to Brazil ended up being irrelevant. When many thought that Trump and I were going to go to war, we ended up becoming friends,” said Lula at an official event at the Planalto Palace, headquarters of the Government, in Brasilia. The progressive leader included the redirection of the bilateral relationship between Brazil and the U.S. within what he considered to be the group of positive news at the end of the year.

At the domestic level, the president applauded the gradual fall in inflation, currently at 4.46% year-on-year, that is, below the target ceiling for this year. “We must always believe and never give up. We must fight all day long and never give up,” he underlined at the event, where he signed a decree to recognize gospel music as a national cultural manifestation.

The trade tension experienced by Brazil and the US

Brazil and the U.S. experienced an unprecedented crisis in the middle of this year, when Trump announced customs tariffs of 50% on Brazilian imports in retaliation for the trial that led to former President Jair Bolsonaro, an ally of the Republican, to a 27-year prison sentence for attempted coup.

The Trump administration’s offensive was completed with the launch of investigations into alleged trade abuses by Brazil, sanctions against the judge who oversaw Bolsonaro’s trial, and the revocation of visas of senior Brazilian officials. However, everything changed after the fleeting encounter between Trump and Lula in the corridors of the United Nations General Assembly last September in New York. Since then, dialogue has resumed at the highest level, the two leaders have already spoken several times by phone and even met in person on October 26, in Kuala Lumpur. As a result of those ongoing negotiations, the United States reduced or eliminated tariffs on some Brazilian products and lifted sanctions against the instructor in the Bolsonaro case. Both leaders also agreed to make official visits to Brasilia and Washington, respectively, at a date yet to be determined.