Financial Times: Trump acts as ‘Emperor of Brazil’ and favors Lula

The British newspaper Financial Times Published on Tuesday (22) an article with harsh criticism of Donald Trump’s tariff policy against Brazil. Entitled “Trump, Emperor of Brazil”the text states that the president of the United States is using his authority to punish a partner democracy and interfere with his judicial system – which, paradoxically, ends to benefit President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Signed by columnist Edward Luce, the article denounces the imposition of 50% tariffs on Brazilian products as part of a broader standard of Trump’s “promotion of autocracy”.

For the author, in trying to protect Jair Bolsonaro from the trial for his attempted coup in 2023, the US government ends up attacking the independence of Brazilian justice.

“Trump was elected to be a US president, not an emperor of the world,” wrote Luce, who also criticizes the performance of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, responsible for the revocation of the visa of STF Minister Alexandre de Moraes.

According to the columnist, retaliation against Moraes symbolizes Washington’s choice for supporting autocrats rather than defending democracy.

Luce says the US government is “punishing the legal system of a sister democracy for applying the law.” The criticism refers to retaliation against Bolsonaro’s trial, accused of encouraging Brasilia’s coup invasion on January 8, 2023, days after Lula’s inauguration.

According to the article, Marco Rubio ordered US diplomats to “avoid commenting on the legitimacy of electoral processes” in other countries – a gesture that, according to Luce, marks US withdrawal as a democratic reference. “Today, the democratic liberal headlights of the region are Brasilia and Ottawa. For now, Washington is out,” said the columnist.

The criticism extends to Trump’s relationship with leaders that the columnist classifies as authoritarian. Even with a commercial deficit with Turkey, for example, the Republican only imposed 10% of tariffs on the country, whose receiving president Tayyip Erdoğan has arrested opposition mayors and restricted democratic freedoms. For Trump, says Luce, this is not a problem: “Dure men please him.”

Tariffs are illogical and strengthen Lula

In the evaluation of Financial Timestariffs against Brazil make no sense even from the economic point of view. The US has a trade balance surplus with the country, which, according to Trump’s mercantilist logic, should exempt Brazil from the measures.

Although the goal was political, such as helping Bolsonaro, the shot also comes out of the Culatra: the most affected sectors of tariffs would be the ranchers and exporters of coffee, traditional pocket strongholds. “Trump is therefore helping Lula, not Bolsonaro,” wrote the columnist. “It’s no surprise that Lula’s luck was recovered.”

By mocking that a trade war started by Trump became a solution to the low popularity of foreign leaders, Luce cites examples of Lula, Australian Anthony Albanese and Canadian Mark Carney. “Few things unite voters around the flag faster than an attack of superpower with their recipes,” he says.

Internal criticism of Trump’s trade policy

The columnist concludes that the greatest inconsistency may be among the former president’s protectionist counselors themselves. According to him, tariffs should be used to strengthen US internal industry, but are being instrumentalized for Trump’s personal whims.

“Trump is disturbing his own agenda. And look, tough men please him,” says Luce. The article highlights unpredictability as a mark of the former president, but maintains that, in this case, the pattern of course: favoring autocrats and punishment to those who defend the rule of law.