Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva delivered a sharp warning to the Trump administration in an opinion column published in Sunday’s {Washington Post, that U.S. tariffs, an openly-declared act of interference in Brazil’s elections, are unacceptable. If that does not change, Brazil will look elsewhere for trade, investment, friendly relations.
President Trump himself declared a year ago that he was slapping 50% tariffs on Brazil to defend his political ally, former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is serving jail time for his 2022 coup attempt. Bolsonaro’s son, Flavio, is running in Brazil’s October presidential elections against Lula da Silva. In a Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee hearing on June 2 of this year, Secretary of State Rubio classified the Lula government as being as unfriendly to the U.S. as Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela —countries the Trump administration has either invaded or is threatening to do so.
The U.S. tariffs are a “strategic mistake,” the Brazilian President warned today. “Attempts to impose ideological constraints on the bilateral partnership, or to instrumentalize it for electoral purposes, will not stand. Never before has a U.S. Secretary of State declared that Brazil is not a friend of the United States. No one will defeat us through lies….
“We stand ready to continue engaging in open and constructive dialogue, as the relationship between two countries such as Brazil and the United States requires,” he wrote. “But Brazil’s destiny is for Brazilians alone to determine—without foreign interference or subservience.”
