Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has stated that the children of former President Jair Bolsonaro are responsible for the renewed attempt by the United States government to impose new 25% tariffs on the country’s exports and has accused them of being “traitors to the homeland.”
Lula is responding to the visit that Eduardo and Flávio Bolsonaro, the latter a pre-candidate for the October 2026 elections, made a few days ago to Trump at the White House, where they also asked that the two largest criminal groups in Brazil be classified as terrorists, as was confirmed shortly thereafter.
“Those Bolsonaro children manage to be worse than him, in truth, they have traded with the homeland,” Lula said, reproaching the former president’s offspring for meddling in the government’s negotiations with the White House.
“They went to ask a foreign country to interfere in Brazil’s decisions. They are traitors (…) What do traitors to the homeland who go to ask for a country’s intervention in our people deserve?” Lula asked during an event held in the municipality of Catalão, according to the G1 portal.
The United States Department of Commerce proposed this Monday to increase tariffs on Brazilian exports by an additional 25% as retaliation for the alleged difficulties the Lula government poses to trade, as well as for other issues such as illegal deforestation, piracy, or corruption.
For his part, Flávio Bolsonaro declared this Tuesday that in his meeting with Trump and other senior officials such as Secretary of State Marco Rubio or Vice President JD Vance, he “explicitly” asked them not to do so.
However, Lula recalled that “Bolsonaro’s children” already celebrated the first tariffs imposed in mid-last year and even asked that Brazilian officials be included on sanction lists.
Lula also took the opportunity to criticize Secretary Rubio for his alleged antipathy towards Brazil and other countries in the region. “He is anti-Latin America. I already told Trump that he does not like Brazil,” the president said.
That same Tuesday, before the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, Rubio placed Brazil on a list of countries that are not allies of the United States in the region, along with Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Colombia.
Brazilian Vice President Geraldo Alckmin spoke out about the tariff proposal, calling it “unfair” and lacking “foundation,” and assured that “no sanction or measure has actually been applied so far, despite the efforts of false patriots trying to sabotage the country itself.”
“Conversations between Lula and Trump will continue in search of a better trade relationship for both countries,” he added in a message shared on his social networks.
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