No one defies Trump like Brazil's president
Trump has said that, starting Friday, he plans to impose 50 percent tariffs on Brazilian goods, in large part because Brazilian authorities have charged former President Jair Bolsonaro with trying to hold on to power after losing the 2022 election.
Trump has called the case a 'witch hunt' and wants it dropped. Lula said that was not up for negotiation. 'Maybe he doesn't know that here in Brazil, the judiciary is independent,' he said.
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In the interview, Lula said the US president is infringing on Brazil's sovereignty.
'At no point will Brazil negotiate as if it were a small country up against a big country,' he said. 'We know the economic power of the United States; we recognize the military power of the United States; we recognize the technological size of the United States, but that doesn't make us afraid. It makes us concerned.'
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There is perhaps no world leader defying Trump as strongly as Lula.
The president of Brazil — a leftist in his third term who is arguably this century's most important Latin American statesman — has been hitting back at Trump in speeches across Brazil. His social media pages have suddenly become filled with references to Brazil's sovereignty. And he has taken to wearing a hat that says 'Brazil belongs to Brazilians.'
On Tuesday, he said he was studying retaliatory tariffs against American exports if Trump carries through with his threats. He also said that if the Jan. 6, 2021, riot on the US Capitol had happened in Brazil, Trump would be facing prosecution just like Bolsonaro.
'The democratic state of law for us is a sacred thing,' he said in a lofty room draped in a colorful tapestry in the modernist presidential palace, where emus roam the lawns. 'Because we have already lived through dictatorships, and we don't want any more.'
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
Trump has gone after Brazil to come to the aid of his ally, Bolsonaro. His proposed 50 percent tariffs would be among the highest levies he has issued against any country, and they appear to be the only ones driven by overtly political reasons and not economic ones.
Trump has said that he sees his legal fight in the criminal trial against Bolsonaro.
Trump and Bolsonaro — two politicians with strikingly similar political styles — both lost reelection and then denied having lost. Their subsequent efforts to undermine the vote culminated in mobs of their supporters storming their nations' capital buildings, in failed bids to prevent the election winners from assuming the presidency.
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The stark difference is that four years later, Trump returned to power, while Bolsonaro is now facing prison.
This month, Alexandre de Moraes, the Brazilian Supreme Court justice overseeing Bolsonaro's criminal case, ordered the former Brazilian president to wear an ankle monitor before his upcoming trial on coup charges. De Moraes said Bolsonaro's efforts to lobby Trump suggested he might try to flee the country. Bolsonaro could face decades in prison if convicted.
In an interview with the Times in January, Bolsonaro said that to avoid prosecution in Brazil, he was pinning his hopes on intervention from Trump. At the time, the wish seemed unrealistic. However, this month, Trump intervened.
In a July 9 letter to Lula, Trump called the criminal case against Bolsonaro 'an international disgrace' and compared it to his past charges. 'It happened to me, times 10,' he said.
He also criticized de Moraes for his rulings on social media content. And he said Brazil was an unfair trading partner, claiming incorrectly that the United States had a trade deficit with Brazil. The US had a $7.4 billion trade surplus with Brazil last year on about $92 billion in trade.
Lula, 79, said it was 'disgraceful' that Trump issued his threats on his social media site, Truth Social. 'President Trump's behavior strayed from all standards of negotiations and diplomacy,' he said. 'When you have a commercial disagreement, a political disagreement, you pick up the phone; you schedule a meeting; you talk, and you try to solve the problem. What you don't do is tax and give an ultimatum.'
He said Trump's efforts to help Bolsonaro are going to be paid for by Americans who will face higher prices for coffee, beef, orange juice, and other products that are significantly sourced from Brazil. 'Neither the American people nor the Brazilian people deserve this,' he said. 'Because we are going to move from a 201-year-old diplomatic relationship of win-win to a political relationship of lose-lose.'
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He has been cast as Brazil's guardian of democracy by many on the left, but his growing power has also raised concerns about whether he poses a threat to Brazil's democracy.
Now he has become a target of the White House.
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