Brazilian president

Lula to Trump: If you charge us 50%, we’ll charge you 50%. Brazil must be respected!

Spread the love

Original article by Pablo Meriguet republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

Brazilian President Lula da Silva wearing hat “Brazil is for the Brazilians”. Photo: Lula / X

The diplomatic row devolved into a potential trade crisis when Trump threatened Brazil with higher tariffs on Brazilian products if it did not cease the alleged persecution of the ultra-right former president Jair Bolsonaro.

Tensions between Washington and Brasília persist. On July 7, Trump sent a letter to the Brazilian government urging an end to the alleged persecution of former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro and threatening a 50% tariff on Brazilian goods.

Lula responds

Brazilian President Lula da Silva swiftly responded to Bolsonaro’s close friend and ally, asserting that Brazil’s decisions and its judiciary are sovereign and that they reject any interference whatsoever. He announced reciprocity in the measures taken by Trump: “If he charges us 50%, we will charge him 50% … Brazil is respected!”

In a post on X, Lula wrote: “Brazil is a sovereign country with independent institutions that will not accept being tutored by anyone. The judicial process against those who planned the coup d’état is the sole responsibility of the Brazilian justice system and is therefore not subject to any interference or threat that would harm the independence of national institutions.”

Lula stated that the information about the “alleged US deficit is false”, pointing out the fact that the US is not currently the main country to which Brazilian products are sold. In other words, the United States sells more to Brazil than it buys from it, meaning the US may stand to lose more from a trade war.

The Brazilian president noted: “The US government’s statistics show a surplus in trade in goods and services with Brazil of around 410 billion dollars over the last 15 years. In this sense, any measure to raise tariffs unilaterally will be responded to in light of the Brazilian Law of Economic Reciprocity. Sovereignty, respect, and the uncompromising defense of the interests of the Brazilian people are the values that guide our relationship with the world.”

However, it is important to emphasize that Lula is not closed to talks with the Trump administration: “We have several options. We can go to the WTO [World Trade Organization], initiate international investigations, and demand explanations [from the White House]. But the main thing is to show that Brazil is respected.”

The crisis has also involved other institutions of both countries. On July 9, the US Embassy released a public statement defending Bolsonaro: “Jair Bolsonaro and his family have been strong partners of the United States … The political persecution against him, his family, and his supporters is shameful and disrespectful of Brazil’s democratic traditions.”

In response, the Brazilian Secretariat of State, which called the statement “undue meddling” in Brazil’s internal affairs, summoned the US chargé d’affaires, Gabriel Escobar, in an expression of diplomatic displeasure.

Lula’s progressive government has now taken further concrete measures to respond to Trump’s threats. On Monday, July 14, Lula signed a decree regulating the country’s Reciprocity Law. According to the announcement by the President’s office, the decree, “establishes criteria for suspending trade concessions, investments, and obligations related to intellectual property rights in response to unilateral measures adopted by countries or economic blocs that negatively impact Brazil’s international competitiveness.”

The decree also calls for the creation of a committee which will be responsible for “deciding on the application of provisional countermeasures and monitoring negotiations to overcome the unilaterally imposed measures.”

Read more: Beijing denounces Trump’s use of “coercive tariffs” to pressure Global South to isolate China

Bolsonaro’s case

Bolsonaro, together with several generals and civilians aligned with his ultra-right program, is accused of participating in a plot to overturn the election that he lost to Lula at the end of 2022. According to the prosecutor’s office, part of this plot was the coup attempt on January 8 in Brasília, when thousands of Bolsonaro supporters stormed the Three Powers Square and other Brazilian government buildings, and vandalized and destroyed them.

Read more: Jair Bolsonaro will stand trial for coup attempt

The episode on January 8, 2023 somewhat resembled January 6, 2021, when hundreds of Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol building to protest the allegedly “stolen elections” in November 2020. Though hundreds were prosecuted for their participation in the January 6 riots, Trump pardoned 1,500 of those convicted, in one of his first actions in office.

People’s movements in Brazil and left groups have demanded that the Lula government hold those responsible for the January 8 coup attempt responsible to ensure it does not happen again  .

Mobilizations in Brazil

Social and trade union movements in Brazil organized a mass mobilization on July 10 in São Paulo against a veto by the Brazilian congress that aimed to thwart Lula’s project to increase taxes on the richest and most powerful companies.

The protest soon incorporated the tension between Washington and Brasília, with demonstrators rejecting Trump’s threats: “The demonstration had been born as a response to the Congress veto against Lula’s government projects that sought to charge more taxes on large companies and banking transactions, but given the situation it became a march to repudiate the tariffs imposed by Trump against Brazil,” said journalist Nacho Lemus on X.

In this way, it is entirely possible that Washington’s measures could backfire: not only could they deepen the unity around a sovereigntist sentiment and behind Lula as a defender of the nation’s interests, but many businessmen may even distance themselves from a crisis that carries risks for them as well.

Geopolitical implications

Brazil is South America’s leading economy and is currently part of the BRICS. Its main trading partner is China, far ahead of the United States. Some analysts have seen in Trump’s statements more than a simple gesture of generosity to Jair Bolsonaro, but rather a tactic to enter negotiations from a stronger position with one of the largest economies in the Global South and one of the fundamental nations involved in building a multipolar world not subordinated to US financial hegemony.

It is a surprise to no one that Lula, for the moment, has not approached the second Trump administration for negotiations, so there has been a kind of tense calm for the last six months between the countries. The calm, however, was abruptly ended with the back and forth messages from the top officials in the public and on social media.

For now, it seems that Brasilia has extended its hand to negotiate a “ceasefire” on social media. Fernando Hadad, secretary of finance, has reiterated his government’s willingness to engage in dialogue with the US government. For now, it is unclear if Washington has responded to this gesture, although it is likely that the economic advisors of the White House would caution the president against ignoring the clear geo-economic reality.

Original article by Pablo Meriguet republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

Continue ReadingLula to Trump: If you charge us 50%, we’ll charge you 50%. Brazil must be respected!

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva: With the world in crisis, many say end globalisation. I say that would be a mistake

Spread the love

This article is recommended https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jul/10/world-crisis-end-globalisation-mistake-lula-da-silva

Leaders from the five nations gather for the Brics Summit 2025 in Rio de Janeiro, 6 July. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

The year 2025 should be a time of celebration, marking eight decades of the United Nations’ existence. But it risks going down in history as the year when the international order built since 1945 collapsed.

The cracks had long been visible. Since the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, the intervention in Libya and the war in Ukraine, some permanent members of the security council have trivialised the illegal use of force. The failure to act vis-a-vis the genocide in Gaza represents a denial of the most basic values of humanity. The inability to overcome differences is fuelling a new escalation of violence in the Middle East, the latest chapter of which includes the attack on Iran.

The law of the strongest also threatens the multilateral trading system. Sweeping tariffs disrupt value chains and push the global economy into a spiral of high prices and stagnation. The World Trade Organization has been hollowed out, and no one remembers the Doha development round.

The 2008 financial collapse exposed the failure of neoliberal globalisation, but the world remained locked into the austerity playbook. The choice to bail out the ultra-wealthy and major corporations at the expense of ordinary citizens and small businesses has deepened inequality. In the past 10 years, the $33.9tn (£25tn) accumulated by the world’s richest 1% is equivalent to 22 times the resources needed to eradicate global poverty, according to a report by Oxfam.

The stranglehold on the state’s capacity for action has led to public distrust in institutions. Discontent has become fertile ground for extremist narratives that threaten democracy and promote hate as a political project.

…

There is an urgent need to recommit to diplomacy and rebuild the foundations of true multilateralism – one capable of answering the outcry of a humanity fearful for its future. Only then can we stop passively watching the rise of inequality, the senselessness of war and the destruction of our own planet.

  • Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is the president of Brazil

This article is recommended https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jul/10/world-crisis-end-globalisation-mistake-lula-da-silva

Continue ReadingLuiz Inácio Lula da Silva: With the world in crisis, many say end globalisation. I say that would be a mistake

Rich countries slammed at Cop29 for spending more on wars and weapons than preventing climate change

Spread the love

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/rich-countries-slammed-cop29-spending-more-wars-and-weapons-preventing-climate-change

A lifeguard hut rests on its side after Hurricane Milton, October 11, 2024, at Clearwater Beach, Fla.

RICH countries received strong criticism at the Cop29 conference in Azerbaijan today for wanting to spend more on wars and weapons than on preventing climate change.

“Global military spending stands at $2.5 trillion (£1.9trn) annually,” Panamian climate envoy Juan Carlos Monterrey Gomez told delegates at the faltering annual talks sponsored by the United Nations.

“For some, $2.5trn dollars to kill each other, it’s not enough, but $1trn to save lives is unreasonable.”

“Causing our own extinction is the most ridiculous thing. At least the dinosaurs had an asteroid. What is our excuse?”

Palestinian Environment Quality Authority chairwoman warned that Israel is committing “ecocide” after over a year of bombardments in Gaza.

“Protection of the environment is actually not an ancillary issue, it is not a secondary option, it is a basic right that is related to all of us as human beings,” she said.

…

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva urged developed nations to consider moving their 2050 emission goals forward to 2040 or 2045.

“The G20 is responsible for 80 per cent of greenhouse-effect emissions,” he said. “Even if we are not walking the same speed, we can all take one more step.”

Meanwhile, a new scientific study has found that climate change has made Atlantic hurricanes about 18mph stronger in the last six years.

…

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/rich-countries-slammed-cop29-spending-more-wars-and-weapons-preventing-climate-change

Continue ReadingRich countries slammed at Cop29 for spending more on wars and weapons than preventing climate change

World ‘Cannot Remain Silent in the Face of This Endless Massacre,’ Says Lula

Spread the love

Original article by JAKE JOHNSON republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

Palestinians, including children, wounded by Israeli airstrikes are pictured at Al-Aqsa Martyr’s Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Gaza on July 15, 2024. 
(Photo: Ashraf Amra/Anadolu via Getty Images)

“The Israeli government continues to sabotage the peace process and the cease-fire in the Middle East,” said the Brazilian president after a deadly weekend of bombings.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva condemned the Israeli government on Sunday after bombings across the Gaza Strip killed more than 140 people and wounded hundreds more, adding to the gruesome death toll and worsening the enclave’s humanitarian emergency as cease-fire talks continue.

Lula specifically decried Israel’s Saturday attack on al-Mawasi, an overcrowded town on Gaza’s southern coast to which Israeli forces previously ordered Palestinians to flee. Israel claimed to be targeting Hamas’ military chief in the attack; Hamas said Sunday that the commander was not harmed in the strikes, which killed around 90 people—including children.

The New York Times reported that one of the Israeli strikes “exploded directly in front of two vehicles clearly marked as belonging to Gaza Civil Defense, an emergency services agency, spraying them with shrapnel and apparently killing and injuring first responders.”

Lula said Sunday that “the Israeli government continues to sabotage the peace process and the cease-fire [negotiations] in the Middle East” with its relentless bombing campaign in the Gaza Strip, which has been utterly decimated by Israel’s assault—a military campaign fueled by billions of dollars of weaponry from the United States, Germany, and other major countries.

“It is appalling that they continue to collectively punish the Palestinian people,” Brazil’s president said. “There have already been tens of thousands of deaths in consecutive attacks since last year, many of them in delimited humanitarian zones that should be protected.”

“We, the political leaders of the democratic world, cannot remain silent in the face of this endless massacre,” he added. “The cease-fire and peace in the region need to be priorities on the international agenda. All our efforts must be focused on securing the release of the Israeli hostages and ending the attacks on the Gaza Strip.”

Brazil under Lula’s leadership has backed the South Africa-led genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice and been a vocal supporter of a permanent cease-fire and an end to Israel’s decadeslong occupation of Palestinian territory.

“I saw toddlers who are double amputees, children paralyzed and unable to receive treatment, and others separated from their parents.”

Israel’s weekend onslaught in Gaza came as “Hamas and Israel appear closer to some form of a Gaza cease-fire deal than at any time since the brief truce last November,” as Drop Site‘s Jeremy Scahill put it late last week.

“Hamas is considering an approach that would not immediately require a commitment to a permanent cease-fire and complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza as a precondition to move forward in phased negotiations,” Scahill reported. “This would mark a significant concession by Hamas, which has long insisted any agreement must include defined steps that end Israel’s war. Instead, Hamas officials said, they would consider entering an initial six-week phase that would include a conditional cease-fire and an exchange of Israeli civilian and female soldiers held in Gaza in return for the release of hundreds of Palestinians.”

The Associated Press reported Sunday that Hamas—which led the deadly October 7 attack on Israel—intends to keep participating in cease-fire talks in the face of incessant Israeli airstrikes, though a spokesperson for the group said there is “no doubt that the horrific massacres will impact any efforts in the negotiations.”

Scott Anderson, the United Nations’ deputy humanitarian coordinator, described the appalling scene he witnessed over the weekend at Nasser Hospital, the overwhelmed medical facility in southern Gaza where many wounded Palestinians were taken following Israel’s Saturday attack on al-Mawasi.

“With not enough beds, hygiene equipment, sheeting, or scrubs, many patients were treated on the ground without disinfectants,” said Anderson. “Ventilation systems were switched off due to a lack of electricity and fuel, and the air was filled with the smell of blood. I saw toddlers who are double amputees, children paralyzed and unable to receive treatment, and others separated from their parents. I also saw mothers and fathers who were unsure if their children were alive. Parents told me in despair that they had moved into the ‘so-called humanitarian zone’ in the hope that their children would be safe there.”

“Impediments to humanitarian operations prevent us from supporting people anywhere near the scale necessary,” Anderson continued. “Civilians must be protected at all times. We urgently need a cease-fire, the release of all remaining hostages, respite for the people of Gaza, and a meaningful opportunity for healing to begin.”

Original article by JAKE JOHNSON republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

Zionist Keir Starmer is quoted "I support Zionism without qualification." He's asked whether that means that he supports Zionism under all circumstances, whatever Zionists do.
Zionist Keir Starmer is quoted “I support Zionism without qualification.” He’s asked whether that means that he supports Zionism under all circumstances, whatever Zionists do.
Continue ReadingWorld ‘Cannot Remain Silent in the Face of This Endless Massacre,’ Says Lula

Lula Recalls Israel Envoy Amid Escalating Clash Over Genocide Remarks

Spread the love

Original article by BRETT WILKINS republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva addresses the African Union summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on February 17, 2024.  (Photo: Ricardo Stuckert via Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva/Facebook)

The Brazilian president’s move comes after the leftist leader was declared persona non grata in Israel for comparing its genocidal war on Gaza to Hitler’s extermination of Jews.

Brazil recalled its ambassador from Tel Aviv for talks on Monday after Israel’s foreign minister declared Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva persona non grata for condemning the Israeli genocide in Gaza.

Israeli state broadcaster Kan reported that Lula recalled Brazilian Ambassador Frederico Meyer amid the escalating row over comments the leftist leader made over the weekend in Ethiopia. The Brazilian news site Carta Capital reported that Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieria called Israeli Ambassador Daniel Zonshine for a meeting on Monday.

This, after Lula told attendees at the African Union (A.U.) summit in Addis Ababa on Sunday that “what’s happening in the Gaza Strip isn’t a war, it’s a genocide.”

“It’s not a war of soldiers against soldiers,” Lula continued. “It’s a war between a highly prepared army and women and children.”

“It is important to remember that in 2010 Brazil was the first country to recognize the Palestinian state,” he said. “What is happening in the Gaza Strip and with the Palestinian people did not exist at any other historical moment. In fact, it existed when Hitler decided to kill the Jews.”

Lula asked: “Who will help rebuild those houses that were destroyed? Who will repay the lives of 30,000 people who have died, 70,000 who are injured? Who will return the lives of the children who died without knowing why they were dying?”

According to Palestinian officials, at least 29,092 Palestinians—mostly women and children—have been killed, 69,028 wounded, and more than 7,000 others left missing and presumed dead under the rubble as a result of Israel’s 136-day assault on the besieged coastal enclave of 2.3 million people, around 90% of whom have been forcibly displaced.

Lula’s remarks were well received by A.U. summit attendees, who issued a statement condemning Israel’s “brutal” war on Gaza.

“Gaza is being completely annihilated and its people are deprived of all of their rights,” declared A.U. Commission Chair Moussa Faki Mahamat, who added that he “condemns the Israeli operation, which is unparalleled in the history of humanity.”

Mahamat underscored his support for South Africa as it leads a Gaza genocide case at the International Court of Justice, which found in a provisional ruling last month that Israel is “plausibly” committing genocide against the Palestinian people.

Israeli leaders were incensed by Lula’s remarks. Right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said da Silva had “crossed a line.”

“The words of the president of Brazil are shameful and alarming,” Netanyahu said in a statement. “This is a trivialization of the Holocaust and an attempt to harm the Jewish people and Israel’s right to defend itself.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz called Lula’s comments “shameful and grave.”

Katz summoned Meyer for a reprimand at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, where the Jewish Brazilian diplomat—whose country sent 20,000 troops to fight the Nazis in World War II—was paraded before a list of Jews killed by the Third Reich.

“We will not forget and we will not forgive,” Katz told Meyer. “In my name, and in the name of all Israeli citizens, tell President Lula that he is persona non grata in Israel until he retracts his statements.”

Persona non grata is Latin for “unwelcome person.” Legally, “it refers to the practice of a state prohibiting a diplomat from entering the country as a diplomat, or censuring a diplomat already resident in the country for conduct unbecoming of the status of a diplomat,” according to the U.S. State Department.

Celso Amorim, a former foreign and defense minister who now serves as Lula’s chief adviser for international affairs, called Katz’s declaration “absurd.”

“It only increases Israel’s isolation,” Amorim told Brazilian journalist Andréia Sadi. “Lula is sought all over the world and at the moment, Israel is persona non grata.”

Palestine defenders in Brazil and beyond embraced Israel’s rebuke of Lula. The Arab Palestinian Federation of Brazil said on social media that it’s “an honor for Lula’s biography” to be “persona non grata in the colonial occupation that calls itself a country.”

Original article by BRETT WILKINS republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

Continue ReadingLula Recalls Israel Envoy Amid Escalating Clash Over Genocide Remarks