Trump announces meeting with Brazilian President Lula amid strained relations

ISTANBUL

US President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that he had agreed to meet with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva next week amid ongoing tensions between the two countries.

"I was walking in and the leader of Brazil was walking out. We saw him, and I saw him, he saw me," Trump said at the UN General Assembly in New York. "We actually agreed that we would meet next week."

Trump described the encounter positively, saying: "He seemed like a very nice man. Actually, he liked me. I liked him, and I only do business with people I like."

The news comes amid deteriorating US-Brazil relations following Trump's imposition of steep tariffs on Brazilian goods, with rates reaching 50% on many imports.

"Brazil now faces major tariffs in response to its unprecedented efforts to interfere (with) the rights and freedoms of our American citizens and others with censorship, repression, weaponization, judicial corruption, and targeting of political critics," Trump said.

The US has also sanctioned Brazilian Supreme Court justices over concerns about the prosecution of former President Jair Bolsonaro and alleged restrictions on freedom of expression.

Trump defended using "tariffs to defend our sovereignty and security throughout the world, including against nations that have taken advantage of former US administrations for decades."

The US president claimed that Brazil is in a very bad situation and that this will continue if it does not cooperate with Washington.

“They can only do well when they're working with us, (as) without us, they will fail just as others have failed,” he said.

Lula has criticized Trump's measures as interference in Brazil's sovereignty and democracy.