Brazil’s Lula says any US tariffs would be reciprocated

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, president of Brazil, has stated that he will act in kind if tariffs are levied against his nation.

Speaking at a news conference in the capital Brasilia, on Thursday, Lula said his country seeks a relationship based on mutual respect. Donald Trump threatened to raise tariffs, so his comments were made in response.

“It is very simple: If he taxes Brazilian products, there will be reciprocity”, Lula told reporters.

Trump was elected to lead the US, and I was elected to lead Brazil. Trump and I both have respect for the US. That’s all”.

Trump’s comments serve as the most recent indication that his policies could cause a trade war with US allies.

Lula’s position also serves as a model for how other Latin American nations might respond to Trump’s protectionist policies. Trump has praised tariffs as a means of boosting domestic industry as well as requiring foreign competitors to comply with demands ranging from manufacturing to migration.

When Colombian President Gustavo Petro initially refused to let a US military flight carrying undocumented immigrants land, Trump threatened to impose heavy tariffs on the country.

Petro objected to the US treatment of the immigrants, some of whom were reportedly handcuffed.

After the two leaders exchanged tariff threats, Petro backed down, allowing future flights to proceed, despite implying a comparison between Trump and “white slavers”.

Since the diplomatic row, Trump has reportedly started dangling the possibility of tariffs against other nations.

On Thursday, for instance, he told reporters that he planned to make good on a promise to impose 25 percent tariffs on the neighbouring countries of Canada and Mexico, two of the US’s biggest trading partners.

“We don’t need the products that they have”, Trump said.

Trump has stated that the tariffs would encourage Mexico and Canada to strengthen their border security and halt the flow of illegal immigrants and people seeking asylum. Trump has also threatened to launch military strikes against Mexican drug cartels that transport fentanyl across the border in the past.

Experts attribute Trump’s stated desire to pursue an “America First” foreign policy, which prioritizes US interests over international trade, to the rising shadow of tariffs.

That platform was highlighted by his remarks at his second inauguration on January 20. He teased impending tariffs “to enrich our citizens,” as well as laying out an expansionist outlook for the US’s future, including with the Panama Canal’s seizure.

Those threats, however, have not been well received in Latin America, where a long history of US interventions and meddling remains resonant.

Our relationship has always been between two sovereign nations, Lula said, “I have governed Brazil while the US had Republican and Democratic presidents,” he added after defeating Trump ally Jair Bolsonaro, who will take office in 2023.

The US has a trade deficit with Brazil, from which it buys products such as coffee, oil, steel, aircraft and orange juice.

Brazil, meanwhile, largely purchases US goods like energy products, pharmaceutical goods and aircraft parts. According to Brazil’s Foreign Trade Secretariat, the country exported $337bn in goods to the US in 2024, and imported $262.5bn.

However, experts claim that factors like consumer demand and currency values affect trade deficits because they are not necessarily indicators of an unhealthy economic relationship.

A US-sparked trade war may also give rise to other economic rivals’ vetoes, some say.

Source: Aljazeera