US President Donald Trump agreed to meet his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva after a “very good” call, marking a thaw in relations that were at their worst in decades.
Trump slapped a 50% tariff on Brasília — despite the US having a trade surplus with Brazil — over what he called a “witch hunt” against former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, a Trump ally convicted over a coup plot. Analysts said the call pointed at Trump breaking with Bolsonaro, who doesn’t have a clear path back to the presidency.
Lula welcomed the shift, calling on former spats to be forgotten: “Neither the American nor the Brazilian people can suffer because of our mistakes,” he told TV Mirante.
