Trump says Lula can call him “the time he wants”

United States President Donald Trump said on Friday that President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva can call him at any time to discuss tariffs and other friction among countries.

“He can call me the time he wants,” said the US president. “Let’s see what happens,” he added, asked what he would be at the negotiating table.

Although Lula adopted the defense attitude of national sovereignty, the Brazilian government had been insisting on reopening negotiation channels with the US, but without much success until this week, on Wednesday, when Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira met in Washington with United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

The meeting took place on the same day Trump signed a 50% rate on most Brazilian products to combat what he called “witch hunt” against former President Jair Bolsonaro, but softening the blow by excluding sectors such as aircraft, energy and orange juice from heavier rates.

Asked on Friday by journalists about the reason for the 50% tariff imposition on Brazilian products entering the US, Trump said people who govern the country “did the wrong thing.”

In a newsletter about the decree, the White House linked the rates to the lawsuit against Bolsonaro, ally of Trump and defendant in the process on charges of planning a coup to reverse his electoral defeat in 2022, to Lula.

The decree was issued on the same day the US announced sanctions against the Supreme Court (STF) Minister Alexandre de Moraes, rapporteur of the Bolsonaro case, accusing the magistrate of authorizing arbitrary arrests before judgments and suppressing freedom of expression.

Sought to comment on Trump’s statements, the Planalto Palace did not issue an official position.

A palatial source has stated, on condition of anonymity, that there is no marked conversation or ongoing negotiation and that will depend on Lula’s desire to start or not dealings in this regard.