Lula–Trump meeting tests Brazil–US rapprochement – BNamericas
The presidents of Brazil and the United States are expected to meet this week to address sensitive issues that could determine the course of the relationship between the two countries over the coming months.
Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is expected to travel in the coming hours to Washington, where he will meet on Thursday, May 7, with president Donald Trump.
“This meeting is very important because the United States is the third-largest buyer of Brazilian products, with China being the first and the European Union the second. But it is the main investor in Brazil, therefore a very important partner that buys high value-added, manufactured products, such as airplanes, among others. On the tariff issue, we have always advocated for a better relationship”, said Geraldo Alckmin, vice president of Brazil, in an interview with journalists.
At the meeting scheduled for this week, the Brazilian government is seeking to work on bringing the countries closer together and is expected to discuss topics related to critical minerals, especially rare earths, a segment in which Brazil has the second-largest volume of reserves in the world, behind only China, as well as issues related to investments in data centers in the country, another segment viewed with interest by the United States.
The relationship between Brazil and the United States has been marked by ups and downs.
Last year, Trump announced high tariffs on Brazilian products, at the time mentioning an alleged process of political persecution against the right-wing former president Jair Bolsonaro, who was convicted and imprisoned for attempting a coup d’état in the 2022 elections in Brazil, when he was defeated by the current leftist president Lula.
However, months later, the Trump administration removed part of the tariffs for some Brazilian sectors, amid a rapprochement with Lula, with the president of the United States mentioning that he had good chemistry with the Brazilian leader.
“I hope that this good chemistry that occurred between Lula and Trump can bring more benefits to two great democracies of the West, which are Brazil and the United States”, said Alckmin.
At the end of last year, the two presidents met in Malaysia, during the 47th Summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), and, on that occasion, government representatives arranged an official visit by Lula to Washington for March of this year.
However, the visit was postponed to April, amid the conflict between the United States and Iran. Domestically, representatives of the Brazilian government have not yet confirmed the meeting’s agenda, as the conflict may cause last-minute changes to the presidents’ schedules.
The meeting with Trump also carries significant political weight for Lula, who is seeking re-election in this year’s presidential elections amid a delicate domestic situation. Recently, the Brazilian congress vetoed the appointment of Jorge Messias to the Supreme Court. This was the first time in more than 100 years that a nomination by the president to the court was rejected by congress, revealing the Brazilian president’s difficulties in building support.
“This meeting between Lula and Trump at this moment, in my assessment, has more of a political than a technical nature. Both President Lula and President Trump have seen a drop in their approval ratings and need to create a positive agenda for their administrations, and they are likely seeking to generate positive news from this meeting for both administrations,” said José Augusto de Castro, president of the Brazilian exporters association (AEB), to BNamericas.
“This situation, however, carries some risks. Since both Trump and Lula tend to act outside diplomatic protocols, any poorly worded statement in their conversations, whether about sovereignty and critical minerals or even about the [United States’ war against Iran], can have negative impacts on relations,” said Castro, stressing that, despite some tariff exemptions adopted last year, several Brazilian products still face high tariffs to be exported to the United States.
Recent opinion polls show that Lula has been facing a challenging scenario in the October elections, with right-wing candidates, such as Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, among others, appearing with real chances of defeating Lula in the elections.
(The original version of this content was written in Portuguese)
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