Lula says his connection with Trump was “good” and “bear fruit”

The president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) classified this Sunday (23.Aug.2026) that the call with the President of the United States, Donald Trump (Republican), was “boa” and which has already yielded “good fruits” with a new meeting between governments “next weeka”.

For Lula, Trump demonstrated interest in resuming dialogue by ordering the representative of the Office of the United States Trade Representative, known as USTR, James Graer, to seek out Minister Márcio Elias Rosa, from the MDIC (Ministry of Development, Industry, Commerce and Services).

Elias Rosa and the North American representative had a conversation on Friday (Aug 21), shortly after the call between the 2 heads of state, to schedule a meeting. Lula stated, during an interview with Recordthat the conversation with the US president was “very civilized” e “very respectful”.

“I told him [Trump] that we are willing to work together in the exploration of rare earths. But this time, we will not be exporters of raw materials, we want to transform them here, to produce cell phones and batteries. We want to have very serious trade with the USA”declared Lula.

UNDERSTAND

Tariffs imposed by the United States on Brazil gained new rates this year. In July, the North American government formalized a 25% surcharge on Brazilian products and another 12.5%, linked to an investigation into imports of products associated with forced labor.

Washington pointed to topics such as deforestation, intellectual property, combating corruption, Pix and ethanol as justifications for the measures. Palácio do Planalto disputes the arguments and states that the tariffs harm the economies of both countries.

The call took place after Lula stated that he intended to speak directly to Trump. On August 5ththe president told congressmen that he would look for the North American the following week. On August 14th, stated again who was looking for a conversation to address the tensions between the 2 countries.

There is a strong strain on Brazil-USA relations. The Brazilian government has started the process of applying the Reciprocity Law against US tariffs and, at the same time, tries to keep negotiations with Washington open.

The phone call also expanded the agenda beyond commerce. Lula and Trump discussed cooperation in combating organized crime and international conflicts, such as the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East