Radical leftist President of Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said on Thursday that Brazil will reciprocate the United States’ 50-percent tariff on August 1 if no “solution” is found through diplomatic channels before the deadline — stressing that he has “nothing to talk about with Trump” right now.
Lula said that Brazil will reach out to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and other countries to get the WTO to take a position on “who is right and who is wrong” on the tariffs. The Brazilian president stressed that he found it “disrespectful” that Trump published the letter informing of the upcoming tariffs on his website Truth Social.
On Wednesday, President Donald Trump announced in a letter addressed to Lula that the United States will impose a 50-percent tariff on United States-bound Brazilian products that will go into effect on Friday, August 1.
President Trump cited the “witch hunt” against conservative former President Jair Bolsonaro, attacks on Brazil’s free elections, and aggression against the fundamental free speech rights of American citizens committed by Brazilian authorities as reasons for the upcoming tariff. Lula initially responded to the announcement in a statement calling President Trump’s U.S.-Brazil trade deficit claims “false” and rejecting Trump’s accusations of political persecution. Lula stressed that he would invoke Brazil’s reciprocity laws to impose similar tariffs on American products.
On Thursday evening, the Brazilian president spoke with the local news program Jornal Nacional, declaring Trump’s letter “unacceptable” and claiming that the only explanation is that Trump is “misinformed” on the trade statistics between the two countries which, according to Lula, makes the reason for the tariffs “implausible.” Lula said that Brazil wants to negotiate, but demanded “respect for Brazilian decisions” and reiterated that he would respond with similar tariffs if no agreement is reached with the United States before August 1.
“First, it is important to take into account that there are some things that a human being and a government cannot accept. It is the interference of one country in the sovereignty of another. And even more serious: the interference of a president of one country in the judiciary of my country,” Lula said.
“It is unacceptable that President Trump sends a letter through his website and begins by saying that the witch hunt must end. This is unacceptable,” he continued. “First, because we have justice here and we are conducting a trial with the right to the presumption of innocence for the victim. If the victim has made a mistake, they will be punished. Here in Brazil, they are punished.”
Lula explained to the reporter that he would not “lose [his] cool” and make hasty decisions, reiterating that Brazil will use its own reciprocity laws when necessary but that he would try to address the matter with the WTO.
“From there, if there is no solution, we will implement reciprocity starting on August 1, when it begins to tax Brazil,” Lula said. “We understand that Brazil is a country that has no disputes with anyone. We don’t want to fight with anyone. We want to negotiate, and what we want is for Brazilian decisions to be respected.”
“Therefore, if he [Trump] keeps playing around with tariffs, these tariffs will be endless. We will reach millions and millions of millions of percent in tariffs. What Brazil does not accept is interference in Brazilian affairs,” the president continued. “He has the right to make decisions in defense of his country, but based on the truth.”
“If someone misled him with a lie that the United States has a trade deficit with Brazil, they lied. Because the United States has a trade surplus with Brazil,” Lula claimed.
Asked what role he expects the Brazilian export sector to play in formulating a government response to the United States’ tariffs, Lula prefaced his response by asserting that the tariffs are not a “tax on Brazil.” Lula then explained that he intends to bring together all businessmen who export to the United States to talk and assess their situation.
“We will try to do everything possible in the negotiation process. Brazil likes to negotiate; Brazil does not like litigation. And after the negotiations are exhausted, Brazil will apply the Reciprocity Law,” Lula said. He stressed that he hopes that the businessmen ally themselves with the Brazilian government “because if there are any businessmen who think that the Brazilian government has to give in and do everything that the president of the other country wants, honestly, those citizens have no pride in being Brazilian.”
The reporter asked Lula why his administration has made no moves to establish direct contact with the United States since Trump took office, given that the U.S. is Brazil’s second largest partner. Lula responded that he has not talked to Trump and “has no reason to” so far other than sending him a letter congratulating him on his electoral victory. Lula said that he “imagined” meeting Trump during the recent G7 meeting in Canada, which President Trump had to leave early.
“When I need to talk to Trump, I have no problem calling him, just as I have called Clinton, Bush, Obama, and Biden. Now I need a reason to call. Two presidents don’t call each other to tell jokes,” Lula said. “He, for example, could have called Brazil to tell us about the measures he is going to take. He didn’t send any letter. We didn’t receive any letter.”
“He published it on his website in a totally disrespectful manner, which is how he behaves with everyone. And I am not obliged to accept this disrespectful behavior between heads of state, between human beings,” he continued. “Politeness is good, and we like to receive it and we like to give it.”
Lula asserted that, now, “I have nothing to talk about with Trump” and “in fact, he gives us no reason to talk to him.” The Brazilian president asserted that he nevertheless has “no problem picking up the phone” and calling Trump if it is necessary to talk “at the risk of him rudely refusing to answer.”
“I’ll take the risk, but in any case, if necessary, I will do so without any problem. For now, nothing,” Lula said.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
Read the full article here