Brasil Keeps Telling Trump To Get Lost

Brazil Keeps Telling Trump to Get Lost By Jack Nicas, 1 days ago Supporters of Brazil’s former president, Jair Bolsonaro, at a rally ahead of his Supreme Court trial, in Brasilia, Brazil. Sept. 7, 2025. The conviction of Bolsonaro for trying to overturn the 2022 election by the South American country’s highest court, despite President Donald Trump’s imposition of extra tariffs, sanctions and a trade investigation, is shaping up as a test case on how to defy Trump. (Dado Galdieri/The New York Times) BRASÍLIA, Brazil — President Donald Trump made his demands to Brazil very clear: Drop the charges against former President Jair Bolsonaro of attempting a coup. To show he was serious, he hit Brazil with punishing tariffs, launched a trade investigation and imposed some of the most severe sanctions at his disposal against the Supreme Court justice overseeing the case. Brazil responded Thursday by convicting Bolsonaro anyway, sentencing him to more than 27 years in prison for overseeing a failed plot to stay in power after losing the 2022 elections. Defiance has defined Brazil’s response to Trump since he began trying to bully the country. So far, it hasn’t resulted in disaster. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has watched his poll numbers rise as he has denounced his American counterpart. Alexandre de Moraes, the Supreme Court justice targeted by sanctions, has been fiercely backed by Brazil’s democratic institutions. And last month, when Trump’s 50% tariffs on Brazilian exports took effect, Brazil said its global exports actually rose 4% because of increased purchases by China. “Does anyone believe that a tweet from a foreign government official will change a ruling in the Supreme Court?” Justice Flávio Dino said as he cast his vote this past week to convict Bolsonaro. In response, Secretary of State Marco Rubio tweeted: “The United States will respond accordingly to this witch hunt.” How much further Washington is willing to go in its fight with Brazil is unclear. The U.S. government has used some of its most powerful tools. Its latest actions focused mostly on revoking the visas of some Brazilian officials. If the tariffs last — or even increase — it may eventually prove difficult to explain to American voters why they should pay more for beef, coffee and sugar to intervene in Bolsonaro’s case. An attendee holds a candle at a vigil for Charlie Kirk at a city park in Provo, Utah, on Friday, Sept. 12, 2025. The first few minutes of President Trump’s Oval Office address after the assassination of Charlie Kirk last week followed the conventional presidential playbook at first. Then he tossed the playbook aside, angrily blaming the murder on the American left and vowing revenge. (Loren Elliott/The New York Times) U.S. officials have said their problems with Brazil go beyond Bolsonaro. They accuse de Moraes of censoring free speech by ordering social networks to block accounts that often he alone decides threaten Brazil’s democracy. His actions have indeed been harsh at times and lacked transparency, prompting criticism within Brazil, too. He and fellow justices have argued that the Brazilian right’s recent attacks on democracy — including a plot to assassinate de Moraes — have required a firm response. Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, was asked this past week about de Moraes’ approach to the internet. Her response, delivered as the judge was voting to convict Bolsonaro, raised eyebrows: “The president is unafraid to use the economic might, the military might of the United States of America to protect free speech around the world.” Brazil’s government condemned the statement, and Lula later told a radio station, “The U.S. needs to know it’s not dealing with a banana republic.” Trump, for his part, did not seem to be revving for a fight when asked Thursday if he would respond to Bolsonaro’s conviction with more sanctions. “It’s very much like they tried to do with me, but they didn’t get away with it,” he said. He did not mention any retaliation. What is clear is that the White House’s campaign against Brazil did not stop Bolsonaro’s conviction, but it did hurt America’s image in the country and push its largest ally in the Western Hemisphere closer to China. Lula has spoken with President Xi Jinping of China at least twice since the U.S. tariffs took effect — but not once with Trump. China, Brazil’s largest trading partner ahead of the United States, is becoming even more central to Brazil’s economic plan. China bought 31% more from Brazil in August, when the tariffs kicked in, compared with a year before. At the same time, Brazil’s sales to the United States dropped 18.5%. Public perceptions in Brazil of the United States and China have been following a similar pattern. The percentage of Brazilians who said they had a positive image of the United States fell to 44% in August, from 58% in February 2024, according to a survey. Over the same period, those with a positive image of China jumped to 49% from 38%. FILE — Immigration officers take a man into custody during an arrest operation in Pompano Beach, Fla., May 1, 2023. President Donald Trump has walked back some significant immigration policies that collide with his economic agenda, angering his far-right allies. (Saul Martinez/The New York Times) U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau wrote online Thursday that Bolsonaro’s conviction drove “relations between our two great nations to their darkest point in two centuries.” Many on the left in Brazil would argue that the United States’ support for the 1964 military coup that led to a 21-year dictatorship in Brazil was a darker moment. They see the current U.S. policy as another intervention from Washington on behalf of the plotters of a coup. U.S. officials, however, say they are saving Brazil’s democracy. That vast divide could be difficult to bridge. “As long as Brazil leaves the fate of our relationship in Justice Moraes’ hands,” Landau wrote, “I see no resolution to this crisis.” This article originally appeared in The New York Times. Some of the recent extra security outside the Supreme Court in Brasilia, Brazil, Sept. 3, 2025. The South American country’s highest court, which has convicted its former president, Jair Bolsonaro, despite President Donald Trump’s imposition of extra tariffs, sanctions and a trade investigation, is shaping up as a test case on how to defy Trump. (Dado Galdieri/The New York Times) FILE — Members of the National Guard patrol the Thomas Jefferson Memorial in Washington on Sept. 3, 2025. Campaigning last year to reclaim power four years after his re-election defeat, Trump dispensed with the usual bromides about national unity, and instead declared that the biggest threat to the United States was “the enemy from within.” (Alex Kent/The New York Times) President Donald Trump talks with media member while departing the White House in Washington on Sept. 11, 2025. The first few minutes of President Trump’s Oval Office address after the assassination of Charlie Kirk last week followed the conventional presidential playbook at first. Then he tossed the playbook aside, angrily blaming the murder on the American left and vowing revenge. (Kenny Holston/The New Times0 People visit a memorial for Charlie Kirk in Orem, Utah on Sept. 13, 2025. The first few minutes of President Trump’s Oval Office address after the assassination of Charlie Kirk last week followed the conventional presidential playbook at first. Then he tossed the playbook aside, angrily blaming the murder on the American left and vowing revenge. (Loren Elliott/The New York Times) FILE — President Donald Trump speaks alongside Archbishop Elpidophoros of the Greek Orthodox church of the U.S. during a Greek Independence Day celebration in the East Room of the White House in Washington, March 24, 2025. Hyundai Motor said in March that it would invest $21 billion to expand manufacturing in the United States. President Trump said the move was proof that his tariff policies were creating jobs. (Doug Mills/The New York Times) Brazil’s president Luis Inácio Lula da Silva and first lady Janja da Silva wave during a parade on the country’s Independence Day, in Brasilia, Brazil, Sept. 7, 2025. The conviction by the Supreme Court of the South American country’s former president, Jair Bolsonaro, for trying to overturn the 2022 election, despite President Donald Trump’s imposition of extra tariffs, sanctions and a trade investigation, is shaping up as a test case on how to defy Trump. (Dado Galdieri/The New York Times) (Dado Galdieri/The New York Times) FILE — Brazil’s former president, Jair Bolsonaro, greets supporters in Rio de Janeiro, March 16, 2025. The conviction of Bolsonaro for trying to overturn the 2022 election by the South American country’s highest court, despite President Donald Trump’s imposition of extra tariffs, sanctions and a trade investigation, is shaping up as a test case on how to defy Trump. (Dado Galdieri/The New York Times) FILE — President Donald Trump meets with his advisors in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington on Aug, 26, 2025. Campaigning last year to reclaim power four years after his re-election defeat, Trump dispensed with the usual bromides about national unity, and instead declared that the biggest threat to the United States was “the enemy from within.” (Doug Mills/The New York Times For more stories,subscribe to The New York Times. (c) 2025 The New York Times Company. 1.8K