Discussion
No One Is Defying #Trump Like Brazil’s President
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of #Brazil during an interview with The New York Times on Tuesday at the Alvorada Palace in Brasília.
Faced with threats of 50% #tariffs & demands to end a #criminal case, President Luiz Inácio #Lula da Silva said he wouldn’t take orders from Trump.
#geopolitics #law
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/30/world/americas/brazil-president-lula-trump-tariffs.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
President Luiz Inácio #Lula da Silva of #Brazil is outraged.
#Trump is trying to push around his nation of 200 million, dangling 50% #tariffs as a #threat, Lula said in an interview. And yet, he added, the #US president is ignoring his government’s offers to talk.
“Be sure that we are treating this with the utmost seriousness. But seriousness does not require #subservience,” Lula said. “I treat everyone with great respect. But I want to be treated with #respect.”
Trump has said that, starting on Friday, he plans to impose 50% #tariffs on Brazilian goods, in large part because Brazilian authorities have charged former President Jair #Bolsonaro with trying to hold on to #power after losing the 2022 election. [inspired by Trump 2020]
In the interview, Lula said that the American president is infringing on Brazil’s #sovereignty.
“At no point will #Brazil negotiate as if it were a small country up against a big country,” #Lula said. “We know the economic power of the #UnitedStates, we recognize the military power of the United States, we recognize the technological size of the United States.”
“But that doesn’t make us afraid,” he added. “It makes us concerned.”
There is perhaps no world leader defying #Trump as strongly as Lula.
The president of #Brazil — a leftist in his 3rd term who is arguably this century’s most important Latin American statesman — has been hitting back at #Trump in speeches across Brazil. His social media pages have suddenly become filled with references to Brazil’s #sovereignty. And he has taken to wearing a hat that says “Brazil belongs to Brazilians.”
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