A friendly Trump-Lula encounter could pave the way for a thaw in U.S.-Brazil relations

U.S. President Donald Trump addresses the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025, at U.N. headquarters. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

SAO PAULO — Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva used his speech at the United Nations General-Assembly to criticize the unilateral moves by his U.S. counterpart, Donald Trump. He will leave with a pledge to discuss tariffs with the American leader — and a political win against his predecessor Jair Bolsonaro, who used to gloat about his access to the White House.

Lula and Trump have been at odds since July, when the U.S. leader imposed a 50 per cent tariff on many Brazilian exports citing alleged persecution against Bolsonaro, who was recently sentenced to 27 years in prison. But a brief, friendly exchange Tuesday in New York City, when they embraced and spoke for the first time, opened the door for a potential shift in U.S. policy towards Brazil.

“He seemed like a very nice man, actually,” Trump said of Lula after the encounter. “He liked me, I liked him.”

Trump’s remarks triggered celebrations among Lula allies at home and won over moderate politicians who had been critical of the Brazilian president before the tariffs.

Former Brazilian Foreign Minister Aloysio Nunes, a centre-right politician who often antagonized Lula, said Tuesday’s event will be a major win for the Brazilian president if it indeed helps to repair relations with the U.S. at their worst moment in two centuries.

“Trump didn’t really know Lula and he was poisoned against him by Bolsonaro allies,” said Nunes. “Under these conditions, a personal contact between the two presidents is very positive. That’s what can really kick off preparations for a real negotiation between them.”

Many Bolsonaro supporters remained silent or downplayed the encounter’s importance – a stark change from their previous stance. They often claimed Trump was so unequivocally on their side that he revoked visas of Brazilian officials, sanctioned Supreme Court justices involved in Bolsonaro’s coup trial, and ignored any diplomatic effort to speak to Lula.

But after Lula delivered a fiery speech at the UN defending Brazil’s sovereignty, the two met and the mood seemed to change for the Brazilian back home.

Bolsonaro’s lawmaker son Eduardo, who moved to the U.S. in March and tried to persuade Trump to weigh in on his father’s case, argued it was all predictable.

“Far from causing astonishment, his stance reaffirms, once again, (Trump’s) genius as a negotiator,” Eduardo Bolsonaro said on X.

On the same day, Brazil’s lower house speaker Hugo Motta, a moderate politician, opened the way for Eduardo Bolsonaro to lose his seat due to his prolonged absence.

In a change of tone, Sao Paulo Gov. Tarcisio de Freitas, a pro-Bolsonaro presidential hopeful, on Wednesday no longer blamed Lula’s alleged lack of interest in negotiating for the higher U.S. tariffs, a position he had taken in August.

“(Trump) needs to negotiate, Lula needs to negotiate,” de Freitas told journalists. “This situation is bad for Brazil and bad for the U.S. too. At some point there needs to be a convergence.”

Brian Winter, a Brazil expert and editor-in-chief of Americas Quarterly, said Trump’s friendly remarks may be the sign of a different approach.

“It is possible that... they see that the tariffs and other measures seem to have strengthened Lula, damaged some U.S. companies and not helped former President Bolsonaro and his legal case,” Winter said.

Since Trump’s tariffs came into place, Lula has risen in the polls, partly due to his nationalistic tone. Earlier on Wednesday, he told journalists in New York that a meeting with Trump “doesn’t need to happen tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.”

“I was surprised indeed,” Lula said about embracing the U.S president. “I was going to get my papers and leave, then Trump came to my side. A very friendly face, very nice, you know? I think there was some chemistry indeed.”

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Hughes reported from Rio de Janeiro.

Mauricio Savarese And Eléonore Hughes, The Associated Press