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

On the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Kuala Lumpur, United States President Donald Trump and Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva met in what Brazil described as a positive meeting, giving rise to hope for bolstered relations following US tariffs.

Lula described their countries’ negotiating teams as “immediately” working on tariffs and other issues after their Sunday meeting with Trump, who is an ally of his political rival, disgruntled former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro.

Recommended Stories

list of 3 itemsend of list

In a message posted on X following the meeting, Lula stated that “we agreed that our teams will meet immediately to advance the search for solutions to the tariffs and sanctions against Brazilian authorities.”

Trump had compared Bolsonaro, a far-right leader who was serving a 27-year prison sentence for trying to impose a coup after losing the 2022 presidential election, to the July tariff increase, which increased duties on most Brazilian goods to 50% from 10%.

In the political heart of the nation’s capital, Bolsonaro’s supporters rioted, sparking a similar riot that Trump’s supporters had on January 6 in Washington, D.C.

Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, a top court justice in Brazil, was one of the many Brazilian officials who oversaw the trial that resulted in Bolsonaro’s conviction.

Trump, however, said he could reach some agreements with Lula and anticipated strong ties between the two nations ahead of the meeting on Sunday despite his worries about Bolsonaro’s fate.

According to Trump, “I believe we should be able to negotiate some respectable terms for both countries.”

Lula previously described the US tariff increase as a “mistake” and cited Brazil’s $ 410 billion trade surplus over the course of 15 years.

“Conclude negotiations in weeks”

Although it was unclear whether the US had agreed, Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira stated that negotiations would begin right away and that Brazil had requested a stop to the tariffs while discussions raged.

In the coming days, Vieira said, “We hope to wrap up bilateral negotiations that address each of the current American]tariffs on] Brazil.

Lula, who Caracas has criticized as “fabricated” pretexts for war, also offered to assist in mediating between the US and Venezuela, where Washington has deployed its largest warship and threatened ground strikes on alleged drug cartels.

Bolsonaro was not mentioned at the Trump-Lula meeting, according to Marcio Rosa, the foreign ministry’s executive secretary.