In a first public statement on how commercial and diplomatic relations between Brazil and the United States should be under the administration of Donald Trump, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) stated that he expected a prevalence of “state interest”, without take it personally.
The statement was made via social media on Friday night (8), simultaneously with the release of another excerpt from the interview he gave to CNN International on Thursday (7). For Lula, the relationship with a Republican president, who he criticized before the election, saying it would mean the return of fascism and Nazism, should not take ideological differences into account.
“I have experience: I had an extraordinary relationship with the [o republicano George W.] Bush, o [os democratas Barack] Obama and the [Joe] Biden. These are relationships between heads of state around the interests of their countries”, he said.
He also highlighted the importance of trade relations between the two countries – the United States is Brazil’s second largest partner in the world, behind only China – with a business volume that reached R$75 billion last year. The two nations completed 200 years of diplomatic relations this week.
“I think that the two of us, as heads of state in the Americas, have to have a very civilized and democratic relationship, because Brazil has an important commercial relationship with the United States, and the United States has a very large stock of investments in Brazil ”, he highlighted.
Lula had not yet publicly commented on what he expects from relations between the two countries from January 2025 onwards, and only congratulated Trump on his victory on Wednesday (6). That day, in a short message also on social media, he wished “luck and success to the new government”.
“My congratulations to President Donald Trump on his electoral victory and return to the presidency of the United States. Democracy is the voice of the people and it must always be respected”, he said.
The recognition, however, came days after Lula publicly expressed his support for Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, during an interview with the French channel TF1. She lost the election to Trump by 277 to 224 party delegate votes.
Vice President Geraldo Alckmin (PSB) also adopted the same pragmatism and congratulated Trump on his victory, wishing “a period of promoting peace, economic and social development, and an even greater expansion of the partnership between Brazil and the USA”.
Alckmin’s message was limited to this comment, without delving into the expectations of trade relations with Brazil. He is also Minister of Development, Industry, Commerce and Services (MDIC) and is in charge of the flow of business between the two countries.
On the other hand, the Brazilian government did not make an institutional statement about Trump’s victory.
