Brazil's Lula Hosts Modi in Bid to Turn India Into a Major Trade Partner
Despite both nations being members of the BRICS grouping of emerging-market economies and natural allies in the fields of poverty reduction and biofuel production, India ranks well down the list of Brazil's trading partners. Total commerce is dwarfed by that with China, the US, neighboring Argentina and faraway Germany.
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Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Yahoo
Trump accused of ‘attack on Brazilian democracy' after sanctioning Bolsonaro trial judge
Allies of Brazil's president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, have accused Donald Trump of launching 'a direct attack on Brazilian democracy' after the US treasury slapped sanctions on Alexandre de Moraes, the supreme court judge widely credited with helping save Brazilian democracy from a 2022 rightwing coup. The highly controversial US move was announced on Wednesday by the secretary of the treasury, Scott Bessent, shortly before Trump followed through on a threat to hit Brazilian imports with 50% tariffs by signing an executive order 'to deal with the recent policies, practices, and actions by the government of Brazil'. Trump has partly attributed those tariffs to his outrage at the supposed political 'witch-hunt' against his far-right ally the former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, who is on trial for allegedly seeking to seize power after losing the 2022 presidential election to Lula. Related: President Lula hits back as Trump tariffs threaten US-Brazil trade showdown Moraes is presiding over the trial, which is widely expected to result in Bolsonaro being convicted and sentenced to up to 43 years in jail, as well as several other criminal investigations into Bolsonaro and his family. Announcing the Magnitsky sanctions, Bessent accused Moraes of being 'responsible for an oppressive campaign of censorship, arbitrary detentions that violate human rights and politicized prosecutions – including against former president Jair Bolsonaro'. 'Alexandre de Moraes has taken it upon himself to be judge and jury in an unlawful witch-hunt against US and Brazilian citizens and companies,' Bessent claimed. The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, tweeted: 'Let this be a warning to those who would trample on the fundamental rights of their countrymen – judicial robes cannot protect you.' A White House statement confirming the 50% tariffs on Brazil – albeit with numerous major exemptions, including oil, orange juice, timber and aircraft – said they were a result of 'the government of Brazil's politically motivated persecution, intimidation, harassment, censorship, and prosecution of former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro and thousands of his supporters'. Hundreds of hardcore Bolsonaro supporters have been put on trial and jailed for taking part in the 8 January 2023 rightwing riots in the capital, Brasília, during which the supreme court, congress and presidential palace were stormed and ransacked. The sanctions were celebrated by Bolsonaro's relatives and supporters, who see US pressure as the only way of helping the former president escape a hefty jail term and, perhaps, save his political future. 'We Brazilians will never forget this action of yours [Rubio and Trump],' tweeted Bolsonaro's congressman son, Eduardo Bolsonaro, who has spent recent weeks in the US lobbying the Trump administration to fight for his father's cause by imposing sanctions. 'Today I have a feeling of mission accomplished but our journey won't end here,' Eduardo Bolsonaro vowed in a social media video. But members of Lula's government denounced the move as a dramatic escalation of what they see as Trump's crusade to undermine Brazilian democracy. José Guimarães, a congressperson from Lula's leftwing Worker's party (PT), called the sanctions 'not just an affront to a supreme court minister … [but also] a direct attack on Brazilian democracy and sovereignty'. 'We will not accept foreign interference in … our justice system,' Guimarães wrote on X, calling the sanctions 'the fruit of a Bolsonaro family conspiracy against Brazil'. Gleisi Hoffmann, a top minister and one of Lula's closest allies, called Trump's move a 'violent and arrogant act' and expressed the government's 'utter repudiation' of the 'absurd' measure. There was also criticism from conservative politicians. João Amoêdo, one of the founders of the rightwing Partido Novo, called the sanctions 'an unacceptable attempt at foreign interference in the Brazilian justice system'. Eduardo Leite, a conservative presidential hopeful who governs Rio Grande do Sul state, said he could not accept 'another country trying to interfere in our institutions'. The best public interest journalism relies on first-hand accounts from people in the know. If you have something to share on this subject you can contact us confidentially using the following methods. Secure Messaging in the Guardian app The Guardian app has a tool to send tips about stories. Messages are end to end encrypted and concealed within the routine activity that every Guardian mobile app performs. This prevents an observer from knowing that you are communicating with us at all, let alone what is being said. If you don't already have the Guardian app, download it (iOS/Android) and go to the menu. Select 'Secure Messaging'. SecureDrop, instant messengers, email, telephone and post See our guide at for alternative methods and the pros and cons of each. The Magnitsky sanctions were named after Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian tax lawyer who died in a Moscow prison in 2009 after being imprisoned for exposing high-level corruption. They have been used since 2017 to sanction individuals accused of involvement in serious human rights abuses. Past targets have included Saudi Arabian officials involved in the 2018 murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Nicaraguan officials linked to a deadly crackdown designed to keep its dictator Daniel Ortega in power, Communist party leaders involved in the repression of members of the Uyghur ethnic group in west China and military chiefs in Myanmar involved in alleged acts of ethnic cleansing. Legal experts and human rights activists voiced astonishment and consternation that such sanctions had been used to target a judge in Latin America's largest democracy. Thiago Amparo, an international law and human rights professor from Brazil's Getúlio Vargas Foundation, said the sanctions exposed 'Trump's distorted view of what a human rights violation is'. Amparo said Trump appeared to think that one of his ideological allies being given a fair trial for allegedly trying to stage a coup was equivalent to 'torture, genocide or other grave violations … to which laws such as Magnitsky are meant to apply'. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Yahoo
President Lula hits back as Trump tariffs threaten US-Brazil trade showdown
Brazil's president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has said he does not fear getting on the wrong side of Donald Trump, as South America's largest economy braces for the introduction of 50% tariffs. Trump announced plans to slap Brazil with tariffs on 1 August earlier this month, partly in retaliation for a supposed political 'witch-hunt' against his far-right ally Jair Bolsonaro. The former Brazilian president faces decades in jail for allegedly plotting a military coup to stop Lula from taking office after the former lost the 2022 presidential election. On Wednesday, Trump signed an executive order confirming that the US would impose 50% tariffs on Brazil. The order did not mention the previously-cited 1 August deadline, but indicated that the new duty would be enforced from next week. In a rare interview with the New York Times, clearly designed to send a message to the White House on the eve of a potential trade war, Lula urged the US president to avoid creating a 'lose-lose' relationship between two of the largest economies in the Americas and said he did not fear publicly criticizing Trump, whom he recently called an 'emperor'. 'There's no reason to be afraid. I am worried, obviously, because we have economic interests, political interests, technological interests. But at no point will Brazil negotiate as if it were a small country up against a big country. Brazil will negotiate as a sovereign country,' said Lula, who has enjoyed a bounce in the polls after Trump's threat. Lula indicated his officials were willing to negotiate economic issues with the US: 'In politics between two states, the will of neither should prevail. We always need to find the middle ground. This is achieved not by puffing out your chest and shouting about things you can't deliver, nor by bowing your head and simply saying 'amen' to whatever the United States wants.' But Brazil's president indicated that the political future of Bolsonaro – whose plot allegedly included plans to assassinate Lula – was a judicial matter and therefore non-negotiable. 'Brazil has a constitution, and the former president is being tried with a full right to a defense,' Lula insisted. The 79-year-old leftist said his message for Trump was 'that Brazilians and Americans do not deserve to be victims of politics, if the reason President Trump is imposing this tax on Brazil is because of the case against former President Bolsonaro'. Trump's decision to cite Bolsonaro's plight as one of the main justifications for his move against Brazil has left many observers doubting that the 'Trump always chickens out' (Taco) maxim will apply to the Friday deadline facing Lula's government. The US president has likened Bolsonaro's 'disgraceful' treatment to attempts to prosecute him after he unsuccessfully tried to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election. Bolsonaro has denied plotting a coup but has admitted seeking 'alternative ways' of stopping Lula from taking power. 'I'd be very surprised if Trump pulled back in this case, not just because of his friendship with the Bolsonaro family … but above all because in Trump's mind it reflects his own trauma,' the American Brazil specialist Brian Winter told the Estado de São Paulo newspaper this week. Lula hinted he believed a retreat might be possible, comparing the current situation to unfounded fears over the millennium bug. 'Do you remember when we were about to turn from 1999 to 2000, and there was worldwide panic that the computer systems were going to crash? Nothing happened,' said Lula, although he admitted he could not be certain 'nothing will happen'.
Yahoo
15 hours ago
- Yahoo
US official says differences with India cannot be resolved overnight for deal
By Kanishka Singh and Trevor Hunnicutt WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Differences between the U.S. and India cannot be resolved overnight to arrive at a trade deal, a senior U.S. official told reporters late on Thursday, citing geopolitical disagreements. WHY IT'S IMPORTANT President Donald Trump said on Wednesday Washington was still negotiating with India on trade after announcing earlier that day the U.S. would impose a 25% tariff on goods imported from the country starting on Friday. The 25% figure would single out India more severely than other major trading partners, and threaten to unravel months of talks between the two countries, undermining a strategic partner of Washington's and a counterbalance to China. KEY QUOTES "Our challenges with India, they've always been a pretty closed market... there are a host of other kind of geopolitical issues," the U.S. official said. "You've seen the president express concern about, you know, membership in BRICS, purchases of Russian oil and that kind of thing." While saying there were constructive discussions with India, the official added: "These are complex relationships and complex issues, and so I don't think things can be resolved overnight with India." CONTEXT India has faced pressure from the West, including the U.S., to distance itself from Moscow after Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022. New Delhi resisted that pressure, citing its longstanding ties with Russia and its economic needs. Trump has cast the BRICS group of developing nations - of which India is a key part - as hostile to the U.S. Those nations have dismissed that accusation and the group says it promotes the interests of its members and of developing countries at large. Trump has also drawn India's frustration by repeatedly taking credit for an India-Pakistan ceasefire that he announced on social media on May 10. The ceasefire halted days of hostilities between the nuclear armed Asian neighbors. India's position has been that New Delhi and Islamabad must resolve their issues directly without outside involvement. Trump has reached a trade deal with India's rival Pakistan. Solve the daily Crossword
