While President Donald Trump’s worldwide rates are in force, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva remains sad opposite the deals with the US that the South -American leader has been, is a pronounced critic of the American rates he sees as a bullying tactics.
“The day my intuition says that Trump is ready to talk, I will not hesitate to call him,” Lula told Reuters. “But today my intuition says he doesn’t want to talk. And I will not humiliate myself.”
More than 60 countries and the European Union were hit with new rates just after midnight on Thursday. While the basic line percentage is 10%, you select countries, such as Brazil, with extra penalties that push the total rate up to 50%.
In the past, Lula hit Trump’s rates as ‘unacceptable blackmail’.
Trump’s worldwide reset of trade relationships will remain in the spotlight this week
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva speaks during an interview with Reuters in the Alvorada Palace, in Brasilia, Brazil, Aug. 6, 2025. (Reuters/Adriano Machado)
On July 31, a day after announcing an extra rate of 40% on Brazil, Trump said that Lula “can talk to me whenever he wants.” The Brazilian president seemed to respond to X in a post without calling Trump by name. He said his country “has always been open to dialogue.”
“Those who determine the direction of Brazil are the Brazilians and their institutions. We are currently working to protect our economy, companies and employees and to respond to the tariff measures of the US government,” Lula wrote.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and President Donald Trump are rejecting about rates and treatment of Bolsonaro by Brazil. (Adriano Machado/Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters)
Trump calls for an immediate end of the ‘unjust’ process of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro
The dispute between Trump and Lula goes deeper than trade agreements. The White House has been open about his resistance to the treatment of Brazil of his former President Jair Bolsonaro.
This was emphasized in one executive order That Trump signed last month in which he “the government of politically motivated persecution, intimidation, intimidation, censorship and persecution of Bolsonaro of Bolsonaro,” the government of Brazil, of Bolsonaro.
Lula told Reuters that the Supreme Court of Brazil “doesn’t matter what Trump says, and it shouldn’t be.” He also said that Bolsonaro was a “traitor of the home country” who should experience a different process for provoking Trump’s intervention.
“But this is not a small intervention now. It is the president of the United States who thinks he can dictate rules for a sovereign country like Brazil. It is unacceptable,” Lula said.
Protesters, who wear masks of President Donald Trump and former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, gesture in handcuffs during a protest against Trump’s rates on Brazilian products, for the American embassy in Brasilia, Brazil, August 1, 2025. (Reuters/Mateus Bonomi)
Brazili’s ex-president and major Trump ally Bolsonaro placed on house arrest
Bolsonaro, who was defeated by Lula in 2022, was recently placed under continuous legal proceedings on his alleged attempt to destroy the results of the country’s presidential election.
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The president of Brazil is apparently not afraid of introducing negotiations with Trump. Although he said there were no hanging mutual rates, Lula told Reuters that he was planning to call the leaders of Brics member states to discuss a possible joint response to the US
According to Reuters, Lula also said that Brazil looked at a collective complaint at other countries at the World Trade Organization.
