Published 11/07/2025 11:06 | Edited 11/07/2025 17:19
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva criticized hard on Thursday night (10), the letter released by Donald Trump with threats to Brazil and attacks on the Supreme Court (STF).
During an interview with Jornal Nacional, Lula stated that the country will not accept external pressures or subordination to foreign interests.
“What Brazil does not accept is intrusion in the country’s things. He has the right to make a decision in his country, but based on the truth,” he said.
Earlier, Lula had also given an interview to TV Record, in which he classified the letter as an offensive to national sovereignty and Brazilian democracy. “If President Trump knew a little from Brazil, he would have more respect,” he protested.
Lula also mocked the environment for which Trump released the letter. “I thought it was an apocryphal material. I have never seen one president will be corresponded to another via social network,” he said, referring to the publication made on the Social Truth.
The president of the United States justified the rise of import tariff to 50% of Brazilian products alleging an alleged US commercial deficit with Brazil. Lula countered the accusation and said Trump is misinformed: “The US is surplus in the balance with Brazil.”
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Data contradicts US economic justification and expose American surplus
Lula’s speech about the trade balance responds directly to Trump’s claim that the United States would be being harmed in exchanges with Brazil. The data, however, contradict this version.
According to the Ministry of Finance, in the first six months of 2025 alone, Brazil exported US $ 20 billion (about R $ 110 billion) and imported US $ 21.7 billion (R $ 119 billion), accumulating a deficit of US $ 1.6 billion.
The US advantage is historic: since 2009, bilateral trade balance favors the US, which have accumulated over $ 400 billion surplus.
In the interview with Record, Lula went further. “If you get last year, we export 40 billion [de dólares] and we imported 47 [de dólares]it was a deficit of 7 billion [de dólares]. And in the last 15 years, the accumulated deficit is $ 410 billion, ”he explained
Minister Fernando Haddad also classified the fare as an unjustifiable economic point of view. “It’s surplus. So, who could be thinking about protection was Brazil,” he said.
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Bolsonaro’s STF, blow and trial: “If it is guilty, it will be arrested”
Trump also used the letter to criticize Jair Bolsonaro’s trial, calling the “witch hunting” process. Lula replied by saying that the former Brazilian president will be tried according to the law.
“What Trump needs to know is that if he had done what he did there in the capitol, he would also be judged. If he is guilty, he would be arrested. As any citizen. This is how the court works,” said the president.
Lula also stated that he never interfered with the decisions of the US judiciary and expects reciprocity. “They must respect our justice, as I respect theirs.”
Asked about the severity of the ongoing investigations, the president recalled the complaints of military personnel who mentioned murder plans and reaffirmed that the trial will be technical.
“It is not the person of Bolsonaro that is being tried, it is the case file. If he is right, he will be acquitted. If he does not, he will be convicted,” he said.
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“Reciprocity already from August 1st,” says Lula
Lula announced that the Brazilian government will use the reciprocity law, approved by the National Congress, if the rate announced by Trump is in force. “If there is no solution, we will apply reciprocity as of August 1,” he said.
The president also signaled the creation of a committee with entrepreneurs to elaborate a coordinated response. “I hope they are with the government. Because if any businessman thinks he has to give in to everything the president of the other country, honestly, this citizen is not proud to be Brazilian,” he provoked.
According to Planalto interlocutors, retaliation may occur cross, affecting sectors such as medicines, audiovisual and intellectual property – and avoiding direct impact on inputs essential to the economy.
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BRICS, G7 and Independence of the Global South
Lula also responded to the hypothesis raised by the US President that Brazil’s approach with the BRICS would have motivated Trump’s retaliation. The president refuted this view and said there is no reason for hostility.
“We are never nervous about US participation in the G7. Each country does what they want,” he said. He stressed that BRICS represents “half of the world’s population and almost 30% of global GDP” and defended a new logic of international relations: “We get tired of being subordinate to the north. We want independence in relationships. We want to trade with the currencies of each country.”
WTO, political blackmail and threat to national sovereignty
The Brazilian government also evaluates to resort to the World Trade Organization (WTO), despite recognizing that the agency has been systematically boycotted by the US.
“We will exhaust all the diplomatic pathways. But we will not accept to mix trade with political blackmail,” said Lula.
The perception in the Planalto Palace is that Trump’s letter has strong electoral motivation. The gesture was interpreted as an attempt to mobilize its internal political base in the US and, at the same time, to pressure the Brazilian judiciary.
Assistants of the president also pointed to the coordinated performance of Eduardo Bolsonaro, who is in Washington articulating sanctions against Brazil, as evidence that the episode exceeds the commercial sphere.
Source: vermelho.org.br
