Lula welcomes ‘positive’ talks with Trump over tariffs
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said he had a positive meeting with his US counterpart, President Donald Trump, and that the relevant teams would “immediately” begin discussing tariffs and other issues.
Trump and Lula spoke at a meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to address tensions between Brazil and the United States after Trump raised tariffs on imports of most Brazilian goods from 10 percent to 50 percent in early August.
In his message to X after the meeting, Lula said, “We agreed that our teams will meet immediately to advance the search for solutions to the tariffs and sanctions against Brazilian officials.”
Trump linked the tariff move to what he called a “witch hunt” against the South American country’s former president, Jair Bolsonaro.
The U.S. government also imposed sanctions on a number of Brazilian officials, including Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who oversaw the trial that led to Bolsonaro’s conviction for the attempted coup.
However, before Sunday’s meeting, Trump said he could reach some agreements with Lula.
“I think we should be able to make pretty good deals for both countries,” Trump said.
Lula had previously described the tariff increase as a “mistake”, pointing to a US$410 billion ($630 billion) US trade surplus with Brazil over 15 years.
Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira said negotiations to work on a solution would begin immediately and a meeting with the US delegation was planned for Sunday.
Speaking to reporters at the summit, Vieira said, “We will create a negotiation calendar and determine the sectors we will talk about so that we can move forward,” adding that Brazil requested the suspension of tariffs during the negotiation process.
It is not yet clear whether the request has been accepted by the United States.
“We hope to conclude bilateral negotiations addressing each sector (tariffs) of the current American Brazil within a few weeks in the near future,” Vieira added.
Marcio Rosa, Secretary General of the Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry and Trade, standing next to Vieira, said that Bolsonaro’s name was not mentioned in the meeting.
Higher US tariffs on Brazilian goods have begun to reshape the global beef trade; It pushed up prices in the United States and encouraged triangulation through third countries like Mexico; Brazil’s exports to China, its largest beef market, are increasing rapidly.
Brazil’s total worldwide beef exports, including fresh and processed meat, edible offal and tallow, generated US$1.92 billion in September; The volume reached 373,867 mt, increasing by 49 percent in value and 17 percent in volume on an annual basis.
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