The president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, held an extensive phone conversation this Friday with the U.S. president, Donald Trump. During the dialogue, the Brazilian leader conveyed that the new tariffs imposed by Washington on his country are unjustified and that, in his opinion, the priority is to strengthen bilateral cooperation to "preserve their strong trade ties."
Throughout the conversation, which lasted for an hour and twenty minutes, Lula rejected one by one the accusations made by the Office of the United States Trade Representative to justify the sanctions against Brazil —among them deforestation, corruption, or forced labor— because "they are unfounded."
The allegations from the Office of the United States Trade Representative led, in mid-July, to the application of a 25% tariff on "most" imports from Brazil. The U.S. Administration linked this measure to the cited reasons and to what it interprets, in general terms, as a lack of "good faith" on Lula's part when addressing trade negotiations.
According to the Brazilian president, these levies "negatively affect both Brazil and the United States," so he considers it essential to promote collaboration with the aim of "preserving strong trade ties." According to Lula's account, Trump shared this vision during the conversation.
In the same exchange, Lula reiterated that Brazil wishes to deepen cooperation "in the fight against organized crime." However, he asked his counterpart not to classify large Brazilian criminal gangs, such as the First Command of the Capital, as "terrorist groups," as Washington has done with other cartels, arguing that Brazil "has instruments to confront these organizations," for example through their "financial strangulation," without the need for "a special classification to designate them."
Both leaders also addressed the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, showing coinciding positions on the need to seek "a negotiated solution." Regarding the war in Iran, Lula again criticized the "inoperability of the UN Security Council" and, as he previously proposed to the Russian and Chinese presidents, Xi Jinping and Putin, suggested holding an extraordinary meeting to move towards a more representative and inclusive council.
"Great leaders are not those who start wars, but those who end conflicts," concluded Lula.