Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has mentioned that, if the USA imposes tariffs on his nation, he’ll reply in form.
Talking at a information convention within the capital Brasilia, on Thursday, Lula mentioned his nation seeks a relationship primarily based on mutual respect. His feedback got here in response to US President Donald Trump’s menace of heightened tariffs.
“It is rather easy: If he taxes Brazilian merchandise, there shall be reciprocity,” Lula advised reporters.
“Trump was elected to run the US, and I used to be elected to run Brazil. I’ll respect the US and wish Trump to respect Brazil. That’s all.”
The feedback are the most recent sign that Trump’s efforts could spark a commerce conflict with US allies.
Lula’s stance additionally affords a mannequin for a way different Latin American countries would possibly reply to Trump’s protectionist insurance policies. Trump has touted tariffs as a mechanism to spice up home trade, in addition to to power worldwide rivals to accede to calls for starting from manufacturing to migration.
Earlier this week, Trump threatened large tariffs in opposition to Colombia when President Gustavo Petro initially refused to permit a US army flight bearing undocumented immigrants to land.
Petro objected to the US therapy of the immigrants, a few of whom have been reportedly handcuffed.
After the 2 leaders exchanged tariff threats, Petro backed down, permitting future flights to proceed, regardless of implying a comparison between Trump and “white slavers”.
However Trump has proceeded to dangle the prospect of tariffs in opposition to different international locations for the reason that diplomatic spat.
On Thursday, as an example, he advised reporters that he deliberate to make good on a promise to impose 25 % tariffs on the neighbouring international locations of Canada and Mexico, two of the US’s largest buying and selling companions.
“We don’t want the merchandise that they’ve,” Trump mentioned.
Trump has indicated the tariffs would incentivise Mexico and Canada to tighten their border safety and stem the move of medication, migrants and asylum seekers. Previously, Trump has additionally threatened to hold out military strikes inside Mexico to take care of drug-trafficking cartels that transfer fentanyl over the border.
Consultants tie the mounting shadow of tariffs to Trump’s said need to pursue an “America First” overseas coverage, placing US pursuits above all else.
His remarks at his second inauguration on January 20 emphasised that platform. Not solely did he tease impending tariffs “to counterpoint our residents”, however he additionally laid out an expansionist imaginative and prescient for the US’s future, together with by way of the seizure of the Panama Canal.
These threats, nonetheless, haven’t been nicely obtained in Latin America, the place a protracted historical past of US interventions and meddling stays resonant.
“I’ve ruled Brazil whereas the US had Republican and Democratic presidents, and our relationship has all the time been between two sovereign international locations,” mentioned Lula, who started his third non-consecutive time period in workplace in 2023 after defeating Trump ally Jair Bolsonaro.
The US has a commerce deficit with Brazil, from which it buys merchandise equivalent to espresso, oil, metal, plane and orange juice.
Brazil, in the meantime, largely purchases US items like vitality merchandise, pharmaceutical items and plane components. In response to Brazil’s Foreign Trade Secretariat, the nation exported $337bn in items to the US in 2024, and imported $262.5bn.
However consultants say commerce deficits will not be essentially an indication of an unhealthy financial relationship: They’re affected by elements equivalent to client demand and foreign money values.
There are additionally fears {that a} US-sparked commerce conflict may empower different financial rivals to step in.
China, for instance, has expanded its economic ties with South America lately, changing into the first buying and selling companion for many international locations within the area.
