The two leaders had a 40-minute phone conversation on Tuesday which both sides described as “productive”.
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Topics they discussed included reducing trade barriers and tackling organized crime. Both men agreed that they would talk again soon.
“I stressed the urgency of strengthening cooperation with the United States to combat transnational organized crime,” Lula said in a social media post after the call.
“President Trump stressed his full willingness to work with Brazil and said he will fully support joint initiatives between the two countries to combat these criminal organizations.”
Meanwhile, Trump indicated that his talks are based on the talks he initiated on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York City in September.
“President Lula and I established a relationship at a meeting at the United Nations, and I believe it set the stage for very good negotiations and agreements in the future,” Trump wrote on his platform, Truth Social.
“I look forward to meeting and talking to them soon. A lot of good will come from this newly formed partnership!”
Tension regarding Bolsonaro
Brazil and the United States have generally had strong relations, but that relationship has been in turmoil since Trump returned to the White House for a second term as president earlier this year.
Trump, a Republican, had close ties to Brazil’s former right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro, who leaves office in 2023.
However, in February, Brazil’s attorney general filed charges against Bolsonaro for trying to overturn the results of the 2022 presidential election, which he lost to Lula.
His case was heard by a five-member panel in the Supreme Court of Brazil.
Trump opposed the lawsuit, and in July, he threatened to raise tariffs on some Brazilian exports by 50 percent if the case was not dropped. Those tariffs took effect in August.
The US also imposed sanctions and visa restrictions on Alexandre de Moraes, a member of Brazil’s Supreme Court who played a key role in the Bolsonaro investigation.
In response, Lula criticized Trump for interfering in Brazil’s court system and compared the tariffs to “blackmail”.
Bolsonaro has since been sentenced to 27 years in prison and was taken into custody last month.
Sour relationships?
A turning point came in September, when Lula and Trump met briefly at the UNGA.
They embraced each other and both men expressed surprise at the warmth of their meeting.
“I was walking in and the leader of Brazil was walking out,” Trump said at the United Nations conference. “I looked at her. She looked at me. And we hugged.”
Trump said they had an “excellent rapport” and promised to meet with Lula again. “He seemed like a really nice guy,” Trump said. “He liked me. I liked him. And I only do business with people I like.”
Subsequently, the two leaders met again in Malaysia for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit.
And on November 20, Trump announced he would roll back tariff increases on some Brazilian agricultural products, including coffee, cocoa and beef.
On Tuesday, Lula described the tariff rollbacks as “very positive”, but stressed that there was still more to be done.
“I highlighted that there are still other tariff products that need to be discussed between the two countries,” Lula said. “Brazil wants to move forward quickly in these negotiations.”
For his part, Trump indicated that he had discussed “sanctions imposed on various Brazilian dignitaries” in his conversation with Lula.
The US is Brazil’s second-largest trading partner after China and the two countries exchanged approximately $127.6 billion in goods and services in 2024.
While Trump has criticized Brazil’s economic policies as hurting the US, the South American country has a huge trade deficit with the US.
The US exports approximately $91.5 billion to Brazil, while Brazilian exports to the US amount to only $36.1 billion.
cooperation on organized crime
Another pillar of Tuesday’s high-level discussion was the possibility of greater cooperation on organized crime.
Trump has made combating criminal networks in Latin America a major item on his foreign policy agenda. Since returning to office, he has moved to designate several Latin American cartels and gangs as “foreign terrorist organizations”.
They have also launched a series of air strikes against boats and other maritime vessels in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean along the South American coastline.
While Trump has framed the bombing campaign as a necessary defense against drug trafficking, human rights experts have called the attacks extrajudicial killings in violation of international law. At least 83 people have been killed in the attacks.
Ahead of his re-election bid in 2026, Lula himself has faced pressure to address crime in Brazil.
For example, in November, he called on lawmakers in Brazil’s Congress to enact stronger laws to combat criminal networks. His proposals included greater support for the federal police and Brazil’s intelligence community.
“We need firm and safe laws to fight organized crime,” Lula said in a post on social media on November 19.
Still, the Brazilian government faces scrutiny over a bloody police raid in Rio de Janeiro on October 28, which left 122 people dead.
Lula called for an investigation into the incident, aimed at combating the criminal organization known as the Red Command.
However, after Tuesday’s talks, Lula reiterated that he was committed to “suppressing” criminal networks in his country with US help.
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