Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva had some sharp, but friendly advice on Feb. 5 for President Donald Trump: “No country, no matter how important, can fight the entire world all the time…. The United States needs the world too. It should live in harmony with Brazil, Mexico, China. No one can live on bravado all the time, making threats all the time.”
Those remarks were made in the context of a broader international discussion with radio reporters from the state of Minas Gerais, in which he responded to President Trump’s proposal for the U.S. to occupy Gaza, which Lula called “incomprehensible” and unacceptable.
The United States participated in “everything Israel did in the Gaza Strip, so it makes no sense for the President of the United States to meet with the Prime Minister of Israel and say, look, we will occupy Gaza, recover Gaza, live in Gaza. And the Palestinians, where are they going? Where will they live? What is their country? It’s something practically incomprehensible to any human being,” the Brazilian President stated.
“It is the Palestinians who have to take care of Gaza,” he added. “We defend the creation of a Palestinian state, just like the State of Israel, and the establishment of a policy of harmonious coexistence, because that is what the world needs. It is the Palestinians who should take care of Gaza. What they need is compensation for everything that has been destroyed, so they can rebuild their homes, hospitals, schools, and live with dignity and respect.”
Brazil chairs the BRICS this year. When asked about President Trump’s threat to slap punishing tariffs on the BRICS nations for discussing how to carry out trade without the dollar, Lula pointed out that “the BRICS represent almost half of the world’s population. Nearly half of global foreign trade. We discuss what is important to us, what is important to the world.”
Lula was blunt: “The world didn’t decide that the dollar would be the world currency, the United States did…. We have the right to discuss establishing trade ways that do not make us fully dependent on the dollar.” Brazil’s Monitor Mercantil wrote that Lula also “stressed that dependence on the U.S. currency imposes trade barriers and limits the financial sovereignty of developing countries, and that it is important to restore global harmony and strengthen international dialogue.”
He also emphasized that the U.S. and Brazil have had good relations for 200 years, and he looks forward to improving that relationship and increasing trade—with mutual respect.
A full transcript of the interview was not yet available at the time of this writing.
