Brazil’s President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has confirmed that he has “no relationship” with US President Donald Trump.
Lula has frequently criticized Trump, but this is the clearest signal yet that he thinks communication between him and his US counterpart is now broken.
Even though the US has a trade surplus with Brazil, Donald Trump imposed 50% tariffs on Brazilian goods in July, citing the trial on coup charges of Brazil’s right-wing former president Jair Bolsonaro as a trigger.
Lula described the tariffs as eminently political stating that US consumers would be facing higher prices for Brazilian goods as a result.
The tariffs imposed by Trump have hit Brazilian exports to the US, like coffee and beef, which Lula said would become more expensive: “The American people will pay for the mistakes President Trump is incurring in his relationship with Brazil.”
The two leaders have never spoken directly to each other. When pushed on why he had not just tried to pick up the phone or form a relationship, President Lula said: “I never tried that call because he never wanted to have a conversation.”
Trump has previously said that Lula can “call him anytime.” But Lula insisted that members of the Trump Administration “do not want to talk”.
He told the newsmen that he had found out about the US tariffs from Brazilian newspapers.
Referring to Trump, he said that the US president “didn’t communicate in a civilized manner. He just published them (the tariffs) on his portal, on social media.”
When asked how he would describe his relationship with his US counterpart he simply said: “There’s no relationship.”
