Rabia Iclal Turan and Laura Gamba
12 July 2025•Update: 12 July 2025
WASHINGTON
US President Donald Trump said Friday he has no plans to discuss tariffs with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
But he did not rule out talks in the future as he again defended former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
“Maybe at some point I'll talk to him. Right now, I'm not,” Trump told reporters outside the White House as he departed for the state of Texas to visit areas devastated by recent flooding.
Earlier Friday, Lula hit back after Trump's tariff announcement, accusing Bolsonaro of sending his son, Eduardo, to influence the US president to use the threat of tariffs as a means of political intervention.
Calling Bolsonaro a "coward who plotted a coup in this country," Lula claimed that he "sent his son to the United States to ask Trump to threaten us: 'If you don't release Bolsonaro, I'm going to impose tariffs on you.'"
Lula added that his US counterpart is "misinformed" and reiterated that Bolsonaro, who has been indicted for allegedly attempting to stage a coup after he lost his election to Lula, would be tried and will serve prison time if convicted, irrespective of the tariff threats.
Trump again voiced his displeasure later Friday about the treatment of Bolsonaro.
"President Bolsonaro is being treated very unfairly. He's a good man. I know him well. I negotiated with him," Trump told reporters. "He was a very tough negotiator, and I can assure you he was a very honest man who loved the Brazilian people."
Trump's remarks followed Lula's statement Thursday, where the Brazilian president declared he had "nothing to discuss" with Trump on tariffs or other matters.
The escalating verbal spat began Wednesday, when Trump posted a letter on social media informing the Brazilian president of his plan to impose a 50% tariff on "any and all Brazilian products sent into the United States" starting Aug. 1. Trump asserted that the tariffs were necessary, in part, "to rectify the grave injustices of the current regime," specifically labeling legal proceedings against Bolsonaro as a "Witch Hunt."
He praised Bolsonaro as a "strong leader" who "truly loved his country" and drew parallels between Bolsonaro's prosecution and the legal challenges Trump faced between his two presidential terms.
Lula swiftly responded on social media that "Brazil is a sovereign country, with independent institutions, that does not accept being controlled by anyone," warning that any unilateral tariff increase on Brazilian exports would be met with the principle of economic reciprocity.
He underscored that the legal case against Bolsonaro rests with an independent judiciary that operates under the rule of law. Bolsonaro, for his part, thanked Trump for the comments, characterizing the case against him as "clear political persecution."
Bolsonaro served as Brazil's president from 2019 to 2022. He faces a trial for allegedly plotting a coup against Lula following his election victory in 2022. He has already been barred from running for public office until 2030 for false claims that Brazil's electronic voting system was vulnerable to fraud.
If convicted on the coup allegations, the former president could face up to 40 years in prison. Bolsonaro denies all the allegations.
Trump and Bolsonaro have maintained a close relationship, famously meeting at the White House in 2019, and Bolsonaro has frequently been dubbed the “Trump” of Latin America.
Bolsonaro has publicly stated his desire to run in the 2026 presidential elections, where the 79-year-old Lula is also expected to seek reelection as a leftist candidate.
