President Trump appeared to offer an olive branch to Brazil on Tuesday, signaling he planned to meet with the country’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, next week for the first time since a diplomatic crisis erupted between the Western Hemisphere’s two most populous nations.
During his address at the United Nations General Assembly, Mr. Trump said he had shared a brief embrace with the Brazilian leader, insisted he had no hard feelings toward Mr. Lula and said the two leaders would talk.
“At least for 39 seconds, we had excellent chemistry,” Mr. Trump said of his encounter with Mr. Lula. “It’s a good sign.”
His comments followed a scathing opening address by Mr. Lula at the Assembly that appeared to take indirect aim at the American leader and his demands to halt Brazil’s criminal prosecution of former President Jair Bolsonaro, a Trump ally. Mr. Bolsonaro was recently convicted of overseeing a coup plot after losing the 2022 presidential elections, and was sentenced to 27 years in prison.
Mr. Trump has used punitive measures against Brazil in an attempt to coerce Brazil into dropping the criminal case against Mr. Bolsonaro. The United States has hit Brazil with 50 percent tariffs and imposed sanctions on the Supreme Court justice who oversaw the criminal case against Mr. Bolsonaro, along with the justice’s wife.
Ana Ionova is a contributor to The Times based in Rio de Janeiro, covering Brazil and neighboring countries.
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