President Luiz Inácio da Silva (PT) stated that the White House, Karoline Leavitt, who raised the possibility of the US using military forces against Brazil was a “silly” and that does not generate concern to Brazil.
“A spokesman said a nonsense. I will not answer spokesman. I will not answer spokesman. It is not up to the President of the Republic to answer the spokesman,” he said in an interview with Band. “It doesn’t make me worry because I can’t take the vision of a spokesman very seriously. But obviously the United States will know that they are not dealing with a banana republic.”
Leavitt said on Tuesday that the president applied fares and sanctions against Brazil to protect freedom of expression and that the country will not be afraid to use “economic and military power” to defend it.
The statement occurs after the start of the 50% surcharge on Brazilian products, imposed by the. The interview was recorded before the trial of Jair Bolsonaro (PL) trial by the Supreme Court (STF), this Thursday (11) in the afternoon.
Since Trump’s announcement, the Brazilian government has reinforced a speech focused on national sovereignty and reinforcing the need for dialogue with the US president. However, a direct connection between the two leaders has not yet occurred.
In a first period since his announcement, the American was closed to direct dialogue with his Brazilian homologist, changing his speech later by stating that Lula could call him “whenever he wants”. The petista even verbalized, in a speech, that he would not call Trump because the American did not want to talk. According to president’s assistants, a conversation between two heads of state demands more preparations.
As a result, Brazil’s contacts with the US have been mainly between Haddad and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, with which the Brazilian minister said he had a unmarked meeting. In addition to him, Alckmin dealt with negotiations with Howard Lutnik, US Secretary of Commerce.
To support the companies affected by the tariff, the Lula administration launched a $ 30 billion credit to help the most affected sectors after rounds of conversations with business representatives. The credit was published through an MP (Provisional Measure) and is already in force.
In this period post announcement of tariffs, Lula also met with ministers at the head of the theme, including Haddad, Mauro Vieira (Foreign Relations), and Alckmin, which also runs the industry, commerce and services portfolio.
In the international sphere, Lula began a series of links to world leaders, starting with the representatives of the main countries of the BRICS economic bloc.
From the beginning of the tariff so far, Lula, Prime Minister of India (a country that received the same percentage of surcharge as Brazil),,, and Emmanuel Macron, from France.
