Brazilian president tries to reverse US tariffs and restrictive measures imposed by the US on Brazilian authorities
The presidents of Brazil (PT) and the United States (Republican Party) are meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The meeting began at around 3:50 pm (4:50 am Brasília time) this Sunday (Oct 26, 2025) at the location where the 47th Asean Summit is being held. The 2 presidents are in the country to participate in the Heads of State of the (Association of Southeast Asian Nations).
Lula is trying to reverse the policy applied to imported Brazilian products. The president imposed by the USA on Brazilian authorities, such as the application of the Magnitsky Law against the minister of the STF (Supreme Federal Court) Alexandre de Moraes. Trump, in turn, should negotiate more access to the ethanol market in Brazil and discuss the regulation of big techs in Brazil. The North American is critical of some measures and defends greater freedom of action for companies.
On the way to Malaysia, the republican spoke to journalists aboard Air Force 1, his official plane, who is willing to reduce tariffs on Brazilian products, but stressed that this must happen “under the right circumstances”.
Hours later, Lula said there were no demands from either of them yet. “There is no demand from him and there is no demand from me yet. I will put the problems on the table and we will try to find a solution. So, you can be sure that there will be a solution”, he told journalists in Kuala Lumpur.
Lula spoke about the topic when speaking at an event at the National University of Malaysia in which the title of doctor for the sake of honoron Saturday (Oct 25). The president who “tariffs are not coercive mechanisms”. According to the Chief Executive, “nations that have not bowed to colonialism and the dichotomy of the Cold War will not be intimidated by irresponsible threats”.
In his speech, the PT member did not mention the USA or the North American president, but said that “the resurgence of protectionism and the paralysis of the World Trade Organization impose a situation of unsustainable asymmetry for the ”.
Another topic that should be part of the conversation is Lula’s concern about the escalation of the North American offensive in the Caribbean and the Pacific Ocean. Without mentioning Venezuela, Trump said he should determine ground actions in the region against drug cartels. The United States has carried out at least 10 attacks against suspected drug traffickers since the beginning of September. Most of these operations were carried out in the Caribbean, close to South America. On October 21 and 22, the US also conducted attacks in the Pacific Ocean. In total, 43 people died.
Although there are expectations that the meeting will help to seal some solutions, President Lula himself said that an effective agreement is not expected to come out immediately after the meeting. On Friday (Oct 24), when he was still in Jakarta, Indonesia, Lula told journalists that the results will be obtained by the Brazilian and North American negotiators.
“If I didn’t believe it was possible to make an agreement, I wouldn’t participate in the meeting. However, the agreement won’t be made tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow, when I’m going to meet with him. The agreement will be made by the negotiators”, these.
Approximation
The meeting between Lula and Trump had been organized since September, when the 2 presidents spent less than 1 minute behind the scenes of the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York. At the time, the North American said that there was a “excellent chemistry” between the 2.
Weeks earlier, Brazilian businessman Joesley Batista, one of the owners of JBS, the largest beef producing company in the world, had been received at an audience by Trump. The conversation began a change in Trump’s perception of Brazil. Embraer’s work with North American authorities also helped.
And, on September 30, shortly after the meeting between Lula and Trump, the vice president and minister of Development, Industry, Commerce and Services, spoke with the United States Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick.
After Trump and Lula’s meeting at the UN, the Brazilian and US governments began working to facilitate a more lively face-to-face conversation.
As part of the preparations, the 2 presidents telephoned for about half an hour on October 6th. According to Palácio do Planalto, the tone was friendly. Lula highlighted that Brazil is one of the 3 countries with which the US maintains a trade surplus and requested the withdrawal of the trade surplus applied to imported Brazilian products and against Brazilian authorities.
Following the negotiations, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Brazil, Mauro Vieira, spent about 1 hour with the Secretary of State of the United States, Marco Rubio, on October 16 in Washington. After the meeting, the Brazilian chancellor declared to journalists that the meeting had been “very productive”.
For the Brazilian government, the meeting between Vieira and Rubio helped to expand the relationship between the countries and, in fact, open the channel to organize the meeting between the 2 presidents.
The rapprochement between the two marks a change in Trump’s stance, which in July regarding Brazilian products and conditioned the normalization of relations to the suspension of the trial of the former president (PL) in the STF (Supreme Federal Court). The trial was not suspended and Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years and 3 months in prison by the 1st Panel of the Court for attempted coup d’état.
