Presidents Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Donald Trump greeted each other during a social event on Tuesday night, 16th, at the G7 summit in Évian-les-Bains. The two participated in the presentation, a choir organized by the French government followed by dinner, at which time they exchanged greetings.
One of the biggest expectations for the president’s trip to the French Alps was the possibility of Lula meeting with the American, where he would discuss the threat of a new tariff on Brazil. Itamaraty quickly ruled out that a bilateral agreement was being negotiated.
The two were then expected to exchange a few words in the corridors of the dome. Until the social event, the two had barely interacted in the moments they were together.
According to reports, Trump and Lula exchanged greetings at some point between the choir and the dinner organized by Emmanuel Macron. The event was restricted to heads of state and there were no images of the moment.
During the so-called expanded G7 family photo, which includes the invited countries, Lula and Trump remained distant and did not interact. The same occurred during the expanded G7 meeting on international solidarity, when Lula gave a speech with veiled criticism of the American.
Without directly mentioning Washington, Lula criticized protectionist measures adopted by rich countries and argued that the fight against organized crime must respect the national sovereignty of each country – a rhetoric that has yielded electoral dividends in recent weeks.
“Neoliberalism has worsened the economic inequality and political crisis that are plaguing democracies today. Now, protectionism and unilateralism are resurfacing as fallacious responses to the complexity of our problems,” said the president.
“Other themes, such as combating transnational crimes, must also be part of the development agenda. One of them is the challenge of organized crime, which terrorizes communities and diverts public resources that should be directed to the construction of schools, hospitals and roads. This effort must take into account respect for the sovereignty of States”, said Lula.
Lula sat practically facing Donald Trump at the meeting table. The Republican is a skeptic of multilateralism and has adopted protectionist measures in the United States, such as tariffs, creating what he calls the “Donroe Doctrine”, in reference to the Monroe Doctrine.
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Since last year, when Trump imposed heavy tariffs on Brazil during the trial of former president Jair Bolsonaro, convicted of a coup d’état, Lula has been betting on the sovereignty discourse with an eye on electoral dividends.
This year, this rhetoric doubled down after the PL’s pre-candidate for President, Flávio Bolsonaro, visited Trump at the White House, days before the announcement of the tariffs and the inclusion of Brazilian criminal factions on the list of terrorist groups.
This Wednesday, the 17th, the president makes a new speech at the meeting “Relaunching balanced, shared and sustained economic growth for the benefit of all”, which already started late.
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A bilateral meeting is also planned with the President of Egypt, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, and a working lunch on artificial intelligence involving Big Techs.
Ukrainian President Volodmir Zelenski requested a bilateral meeting with Lula, who was willing to receive him. This Wednesday, the government said that the meeting would be scheduled, but there was a risk of it being canceled if previous events were delayed.
