Lula says Brazil acted right by being cautious in the face of Trump’s tariffs

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva stated, in the early hours of this Sunday (22), in New Delhi, that Brazil “acted right in being cautious” in the face of the tariffs announced by the president of the United States, Donald Trump.

The comment made after the North American Supreme Court decision that overturned part of the tariffs imposed by the Republican government.

Commenting on the stance adopted by Brazil since the initial announcement of the surcharges, Lula stated that the government avoided hasty decisions.

“We make decisions very carefully. You all know that I have the idea in my head of not making any decision when I have a fever of 39 degrees. We have to wait for the fever to go away before we can make a decision. I think we made the right decisions”, he said.

The statement was made during a press conference at the end of the Brazilian president’s official agenda in India, just hours after the US Supreme Court ruled that Trump exceeded his authority by imposing broad tariffs based on an economic emergency law.

Following the trial, the US government announced new global tariffs, now based on another legal instrument.

According to him, the evolution of facts confirmed this strategy: “I think we made the right decisions”.

Lula noted that part of the measures had already been reviewed by the United States government itself even before the court decision.

“Some of the things had already been changed by the government itself [norte-] American. And now we have had the decision of the American Court, which made another decision, contrary to what was President Trump’s thesis”, he stated.

Despite directly mentioning the effects of the judgment, the Brazilian president avoided any assessment of the merits of the US Supreme Court’s decision.

“Obviously, I can’t judge the decision of the Supreme Court of a country. I don’t judge mine, much less another country”, he declared.

Lula said he hopes the North American government adopts a less discriminatory stance in trade and diplomatic relations. “I also want to say to President Trump that we do not want a new Cold War,” he said.

“We don’t want to have preference for any country. We want to have equal relations with all countries”, he added.

According to Lula, Brazil’s objective is to establish relationships based on reciprocity and mutual respect.

“We want to treat everyone on equal terms and receive from them equal treatment with other countries,” he said, indicating that this will be one of the pillars of the planned conversation with Trump in the coming weeks.