Brazilian president unwilling to negotiate tariff cuts with Trump
Photo: Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Getty Images)
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva currently sees no possibility for direct talks with US President Donald Trump on reducing tariffs, saying such negotiations would be "humiliating," according to the president’s interview with Reuters.
Lula’s remarks came in response to the recent decision by the United States to raise tariffs on Brazilian imports to 50%. The president made it clear that Brazil does not plan to impose retaliatory tariffs, nor does he intend to abandon dialogue at the ministerial level. However, he personally is in no rush to call the White House.
"The day my intuition says Trump is ready to talk, I won't hesitate to call him," Lula said in an interview from his presidential residence in Brasilia. "But today my intuition says he doesn't want to talk. And I won't humiliate myself."
Worst relations in two centuries
The Brazilian leader described the current state of US-Brazil relations as the worst in the past 200 years. This tension escalated after Trump linked new tariffs to his demand that Brazil stop prosecuting former right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro, who is currently on trial for attempting to overturn the 2022 election results.
Lula emphasized that Brazil’s Supreme Court, which is handling Bolsonaro’s case, "does not care what Trump says and it should not."
He added that Bolsonaro should face another trial, this time for provoking Trump’s interference, calling the former president "a traitor to the homeland."
"We had already pardoned the US intervention in the 1964 coup," said Lula, who got his political start as a union leader protesting against the military government that followed a US-backed ouster of a democratically elected president. Lula began his political career by opposing that regime as a union leader.
"But this now is not a small intervention. It's the president of the United States thinking he can dictate rules for a sovereign country like Brazil. It's unacceptable."
No personal issue with Trump, but criticism of behavior
Lula clarified that he holds no personal grudge against Trump and does not rule out meeting him at the upcoming UN General Assembly in September or the UN Climate Summit in November.
However, he criticized Trump’s behavior toward other world leaders, including South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
"What Trump did with Zelenskyy was humiliation. That's not normal. What Trump did with Ramaphosa was humiliation," Lula said. "One president can't be humiliating another. I respect everyone, and I demand respect."
He noted that his ministers are struggling to establish dialogue with US counterparts. As a result, the Brazilian government is currently focused on domestic measures to cushion the economic blow from the US tariffs, while maintaining "fiscal responsibility."
Although Lula did not specify which support measures are being prepared for Brazilian companies, they are expected to include credit lines and other export assistance.
Coordinated BRICS response and potential WTO complaint
In his interview with Reuters, Lula said he plans to reach out to leaders of BRICS countries, starting with India and China, to discuss a potential joint response to US tariffs.
"There is no coordination among the BRICS yet, but there will be," Lula said, comparing multilateral action to the strength of collective bargaining in his union days. "What is the negotiating power of one little country with the United States? None."
He also revealed that Brazil is considering filing a joint complaint with other nations at the World Trade Organization (WTO).
"I was born negotiating," said Lula, who was raised in poverty and rose through union ranks to serve two terms as president from 2003 to 2010, then re-entered politics in the 2022 election to defeat the incumbent Bolsonaro.
Still, he emphasized that Brazil is in no rush to retaliate or negotiate: "We need to be very cautious."
When asked whether measures could be taken against US companies, such as imposing higher taxes on major tech firms, Lula responded that the government is exploring ways to level the tax playing field between American and Brazilian companies.
Trump's tariffs on Brazil
On July 30, US President Donald Trump imposed an additional 40% tariff on Brazilian imports. Combined with the standard 10% duty, the total tariff rate now stands at 50%.
Washington’s decision was reportedly driven in part by Bolsonaro’s prosecution for attempting a coup.
Additionally, on August 6, Trump signed an order imposing a further 25% tariff on imports from India, citing the country’s commercial ties with Russia.
