Former United States ambassador to Brazil, Thomas Shannon, stated that US President Donald Trump considers former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) a “closed” issue.
According to him, the Republican recognized that he has no way of intervening in the judicial process that led to Bolsonaro’s conviction for an attempted coup d’état.
In an interview with BBC News BrazilShannon said that the American leader already realized that insisting on the issue would be useless. “Yes. Why is he going to fail again when he has already failed once? Trump is cunning at this point. He knows when he can’t move forward on one front and looks for another,” he said.
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From rupture to rapprochement
The diplomat attributes this change in stance to the new phase in relations between Trump and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT). Since the meeting between the two leaders at the UN General Assembly in September, signs of rapprochement have been intensifying.
On the occasion, the presidents greeted each other cordially and expressed their willingness to put their differences behind them. They are expected to meet again this Sunday (26), during the Asean Summit, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
According to Shannon, Trump began to see a political and economic advantage in getting closer to Lula, especially after internal pressure in the United States against the 50% tariffs imposed on Brazilian products.
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Tariffs and political calculation
The former ambassador stated that Trump was convinced by representatives of the American private sector that the tariffs were harming US companies and consumers.
“I think the president was exposed to something of a crash course in the impact that these tariffs would have on the day-to-day lives of many Americans,” Shannon said. “He felt he had been misinformed and decided to correct the error in his own style: transforming an economic impasse into a personal opportunity for rapprochement.”
For the diplomat, the movement shows pragmatism. “In the world of diplomacy, this is a smart move. Trump realized he could turn a bilateral conflict into a reconciliation narrative that favors both sides.”
