Trump meets Brazil’s Lula at ASEAN summit, touts ‘pretty good deals’

Both countries’ negotiating teams volition commencement ‘immediately’ to code US tariffs and sanctions, says Brazil’s President Lula.

United States President Donald Trump and Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva person held what Brazil described arsenic a constructive gathering connected the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit successful Kuala Lumpur, raising anticipation for improved relations aft stinging US tariffs.

Brazil’s Lula said the Sunday gathering with Trump – who is an state of his governmental rival, embattled erstwhile Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro – was “great” and added that their countries’ negotiating teams would get to enactment “immediately” to tackle tariffs and different issues.

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“We agreed that our teams volition conscionable instantly to beforehand the hunt for solutions to the tariffs and sanctions against Brazilian authorities,” Lula said successful a connection connected X pursuing the meeting.

Trump had linked the July tariff determination – which brought duties connected astir Brazilian goods entering the US to 50 percent from 10 percent – to what helium called a “witch hunt” against far-right person Bolsonaro, who has been sentenced to 27 years successful prison for attempting a coup aft losing the 2022 statesmanlike election.

Bolsonaro’s supporters rioted successful the governmental centre of the country’s capital, evoking a riot by Trump’s supporters successful Washington, DC connected January 6, 2 years earlier.

The US authorities has besides sanctioned galore Brazilian officials, including Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who oversaw the proceedings that led to Bolsonaro’s conviction.

Ahead of the gathering connected Sunday, though, Trump said helium could scope immoderate agreements with Lula and expected the 2 countries to bask beardown ties contempt his concerns astir Bolsonaro’s fate.

“I deliberation we should beryllium capable to marque immoderate beauteous bully deals for some countries,” Trump said.

Lula antecedently described the US tariff hike arsenic a “mistake”, citing a $410bn US commercialized surplus with Brazil implicit 15 years.

‘Conclude negotiations successful weeks’

Brazil’s Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira said that negotiations would commencement instantly and that Brazil had requested a intermission successful tariffs portion talks proceed, though it was unclear whether the US had agreed.

“We anticipation to reason bilateral negotiations that code each of the sectors of the existent American [tariffs on] Brazil successful the adjacent future, successful a fewer weeks,” Vieira said.

He added that Lula besides offered to assistance mediate betwixt the US and Venezuela, wherever Washington has deployed its largest warship and threatened crushed strikes targeting alleged cause cartels, operations Caracas has denounced arsenic “fabricated” pretexts for war.

Bolsonaro was not mentioned during the Trump-Lula meeting, said Marcio Rosa, the enforcement caput for Brazil’s Foreign Ministry.

Higher US tariffs connected Brazilian goods person begun reshaping the planetary beef trade, pushing up prices successful the US and encouraging triangulation via 3rd countries specified arsenic Mexico, portion Brazilian exports to China proceed to boom.