Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has called on US President Donald Trump to act with greater responsibility on the world stage, cautioning that Washington should not view itself as “the emperor of the world.”
Speaking to PBS News ahead of his address to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, Lula emphasized that the United States, as the world’s largest economy and military power, must respect the sovereignty of other nations and refrain from interfering in their internal affairs.
“I think President Trump needs to have the behavior of a head of state, of a statesman of the largest economy in the world, of the biggest military power in the world, the most technological country in the world,” Lula said through an interpreter. “A country with such greatness and such might has to have much more responsibility. What we do not accept is that any country in the world interferes in our democracy and our sovereignty.”
Lula also pushed back against Trump’s allegations of unfair trade practices, highlighting that the United States has enjoyed a $410 billion trade surplus with Brazil over the past 15 years. He stressed that Brazil’s judiciary is independent and immune to interference, including in the recent conviction of former President Jair Bolsonaro for attempting a coup.
During his UN speech, Lula criticized US tariffs and sanctions imposed in response to Bolsonaro’s trial, calling them “unilateral and arbitrary measures against our institutions and our economy.”
Trump, speaking immediately afterward, accused Brazil of “censorship, repression… judicial corruption and targeting of political critics,” though he later offered a lighter note, recalling a brief backstage encounter with Lula. “He seemed like a very nice man, actually. He liked me, I liked him… At least for about 39 seconds we had excellent chemistry. It’s a good sign,” Trump said.
The US president also revealed plans for a meeting with Lula next week, adding that “Brazil is doing poorly… Without us they will fail.”
Relations between Washington and Brasília have deteriorated since Trump accused Lula of carrying out a “witch hunt” against Bolsonaro and imposed a 50% tariff on Brazilian imports in August. Brazil has vowed to defend its sovereignty, warning that further interference could damage more than two centuries of bilateral ties.
