Lula says the US has ignored Brazil’s attempts to negotiate Trump's
announced tariff
[July 25, 2025]
SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said
Thursday that his government has not been successful in trying to
negotiate the 50% tariff on Brazilian imports that U.S. President Donald
Trump has threatened to impose.
Washington has ignored Brazil's attempts to negotiate ahead of the
measure’s expected implementation on Aug. 1., the Brazilian leader said.
“Brazil is used to negotiating,” Lula said. “We had already 10 meetings
with the United States. On May 16, we sent them a letter asking for
clarification on the proposals we had made."
“They didn’t respond. They responded through a website,” Lula added,
referring to Trump's post on his social media platform Truth Social on
July 9, announcing the tariff.
Trump directly linked the import tax to the trial underway in Brazil of
his ally, the country’s former President Jair Bolsonaro, which he called
a “witch hunt.”
Rather than backing down, Brazil’s Supreme Court escalated the case,
worsening Bolsonaro’s legal troubles. Federal police has raided
Bolsonaro’s home and political office, ordered him to wear an ankle
monitor, banned him from using social media and levelled other
restrictions.
Lula spoke Thursday in Vale do Jequitinhonha, one of Brazil’s poorest
regions in the state of Minas Gerais, repeating his mantra of needing to
“defend” Brazil's resources — a message he has adopted since the trade
dispute escalated.
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Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva attends an event at
Planalto presidential palace in Brasilia, Brazil, Wednesday, July
23, 2025. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
 In related developments, Brazil's
Vice President Geraldo Alckmin told reporters in the capital,
Brasilia, that he had a 50-minute phone call last Saturday with U.S.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. Alckmin, who also serves as
Brazil’s minister of Commerce, Industry and Trade, declined to share
details of the conversation, saying it was confidential.
“I reiterated Brazil’s willingness to negotiate — that’s our
position," Alckmin, said. "Brazil never left the table. We didn’t
create this problem, but we want to solve it.”
Separately, Brazil raised concerns on Wednesday at a World Trade
Organization meeting, arguing that arbitrary tariffs violate the
organization’s core principles but making no mention of Trump or the
United States,
“Arbitrary tariffs, chaotically announced and implemented, are
disrupting global value chains and risk throwing the world economy
into a spiral of high prices and stagnation,” Brazil’s Ambassador
Philip Fox-Drummond Gough said.
WTO member states are witnessing “an extremely dangerous shift
toward the use of tariffs as a tool to interfere in the domestic
affairs of third countries,” he added.
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