In his speech at the 68th Summit of Presidents of Mercosur, this Tuesday (30), President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) highlighted the sovereignty of South American countries, stating that “no one owns the world and no one owns South America”, amid tensions with the President of the United States, Donald Trump.
Lula’s statement refers to the actions of control by the North American president over other countries in the worldwhich recently announced a proposal to re-tax Brazilian products with tariffs of 25%. Trump began the tariff in April 2025, imposing additional values on several countries around the world, using American commercial power as a way to impose itself on other nations.
The PT member has also criticized other control measures by Trump over South American countries, such as the capture of the former president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, and the classification of the criminal factions PCC and Comando Vermelho as terrorist groups, increasing the possibility of a North American intervention in Brazilian territory.
In his speech, Lula also reinforced the need to preserve the freedom and independence of South American countriesdefending their individual interests to guarantee their space in the world.
Nobody owns the world and nobody owns South America. No Mercosur country will gain more freedom of action through automatic alignments or exclusionary choices. Our strength will be in the ability to dialogue with everyone, without leaving aside our interests. Diversifying partnerships, expanding cooperation and preserving autonomy are requirements for the region to find its space in a changing world.
Strategic need
The president told other South American leaders that the economic bloc serves as a protection for its membersnecessary at a time of geopolitical rivalries and the growth of global unitarianism. For the president, the union of Mercosur also serves as protection from global instability and rising food and energy prices caused by wars and conflicts in other parts of the world.
Regarding the bloc’s partnerships, Lula celebrated the advancement of dialogue with Canada, India and Vietnam and the agreement reached with the European Union. He also celebrated an important step in negotiations for an economic partnership with Japan and announced that it also wishes to make agreements with China soon.
The president’s participation included the announcement of an increase in Brazilian investments directed to the bloc. Lula wants to increase contributions to the Mercosul Structural Convergence Fund (FOCEM), which finances infrastructure works in member countries. Brazil is already the largest contributor to the bloc and should increase its transfer to US$100 million per year for a decade, an amount that is equivalent to the fund’s total fundraising goal.
Lula also highlighted the importance of focusing on democracy, which, according to him, is once again under threat around the world. The president cited Brazil as an example, highlighting that an attempted coup was planned.
In our region, it is no different. In Brazil, extremists planned a coup d’état. Disinformation networks continue to distort public debate and attempt to weaken trust in institutions. Despite attempts to sow doubts about the integrity of electoral processes in South America, respect for the popular will and trust in democratic rules have prevailed.
Presidential elections
At the end of his speech, the president dropped the planned speech and spoke about his participation in the 2026 presidential elections. Lula highlighted victories in his career, in addition to stating that, when he assumed his current term, in 2022, Brazil was lower in several economic and quality of life indexes when compared to the moment when his second government ended, in 2011.
For Lula, his re-election is necessary for Brazil to remain a democratic countryreferring to the possibility that another candidate will win the dispute, but without mentioning the name of his main opponent in the race to occupy the position of president, Flávio Bolsonaro (PL).
I will run in the elections to ensure that Brazil remains a democratic country, because it is not possible for us to imagine irresponsible people governing a country of 215 million inhabitants.
