Brazilian President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and his U.S. counterpart, Donald Trump, agreed this Friday, during a phone call, to continue negotiations on the 37.5% trade tariffs recently imposed on Brazil by the U.S.
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According to the version of the “cordial” conversation released by the Brazilian Presidency, Lula stated that the reasons alleged by the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office to impose the tariffs are “unfounded.”
He then proposed to Trump that, in light of this, “continuing at the negotiating table” was the “best option” for the United States to remain one of Brazil’s main trading partners, as reported by EFE.
For his part, the U.S. head of state agreed on the need to “preserve strong trade ties” and proposed that teams from both countries meet “as soon as possible”, according to the Brazilian Presidency.
The tariffs announced in July were the result of investigations that pointed to, among other things, various anti-competitive practices and the importation by Brazil of products made with slave labor, claims that Lula’s administration has rejected.
In the call, which lasted an hour and 20 minutes, the leaders also addressed the fight against organized crime, to which the Brazilian leader reaffirmed his government’s “interest” in cooperating with Washington.
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In this regard, Lula said that Brazil has “instruments” to combat factions “without the need” for them to be classified as terrorists, a designation that the Trump administration recently gave to Comando Vermelho (CV) and Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC), the two main gangs in the Latin American country.
According to EFE, among the actions taken to confront organized crime, the Brazilian president mentioned the financial strangulation strategy and plans to establish new maximum-security prisons.
For his part, the White House occupant declared himself willing to strengthen bilateral cooperation in this area and assured that he would appoint “high-level officials” to follow up.
In the international sphere, meanwhile, both leaders agreed on the “urgency” of a “negotiated solution” to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, after almost five years of hostilities.
Additionally, Lula complained about the “ineffectiveness” of the UN Security Council, of which the U.S. is a permanent member, and proposed holding an extraordinary meeting to find “diplomatic solutions” to conflicts, adding that “great leaders are not those who start wars, but those who end them.”
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