President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said this Sunday that he is confident of reaching an agreement with the USA during his visit to the country next month. Even after the announcement of new 15% global tariffs by President Donald Trump, Lula stated in an interview in India that he believes it is in the interests of both countries to reach a consensus.
Lula declined to comment on the decision of the American Supreme Court, which suspended the application of reciprocal tariffs by the Donald Trump government. As a reaction, Trump announced global tariffs of 15%, which in theory do not affect the competitiveness of Brazilian exports, as they affect all countries. The president stated that there are signs that some sectors of the American government do not want to negotiate, and that is why he insists on negotiating an agreement directly with Trump.
“I am convinced that in the conversation the Brazil-United States relationship will return to normal. They are interested, we are interested. If we tax any of our products, it will cause inflation in the United States and will be harmful to the American people. They already know that”, he stated. “And I also want to tell President Trump that we don’t want a new cold war. We don’t want to have a preference for any country. We want to have equal relations with all countries.”
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Lula reiterated that he intends to emphasize the need to join forces in combating organized crime during his visit to the USA. According to him, this is one of his foreign policy priorities, so much so that he has taken the director of the Federal Police, Andrei Rodrigues, with him on all his international trips.
Lula’s statement was made at the press conference that ended his four-day visit to India, which was attended by Rodrigues as part of the official delegation. In December, the president had already mentioned in a phone call to Trump that the American authorities send “crime bosses” who are refugees in the USA to Brazil.
“If the American government is willing to fight drug trafficking and organized crime, we will be willing, on the front lines, to put an end to it once and for all. We even ask them to send the criminals who are there to us. Brazilians who commit crimes, people who smuggle gasoline. Send them so we can show that they want to fight organized crime, very seriously.” said Lula. “Anything that can put corruption tycoons in jail, we are willing to work on.”
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Lula considered the visit to India “a milestone” in relations with the Asian country, due to the reaffirmation of the strategic partnership with the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the agreements signed, including one on cooperation in the processing of critical minerals and another in the digital area.
“The most important thing is that, when it comes to negotiating with India, we are not dealing with a colonizer. Because when you do business with a rich country, with those countries used to being colonizers, it is a kind of authoritarianism in negotiations, not taking into account the specificities of each nation, always wanting the law of the strongest to prevail. With India it is different”, he said. “We are both needy. No one is superior to anyone else.”
