The Brazilian president has once again stressed his idea of acting reciprocally in the face of any tariff imposition from the United States.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said Friday that he would not rule out taking the United States to the World Trade Organization (WTO) if President Donald Trump follows through on his tariff threats.
Lula has once again stressed his idea of acting reciprocally in the face of any tariff imposition from the United States, without ruling out the possibility of filing a complaint with the WTO, although he has stressed the need to come to an understanding with a partner with more than 200 years of diplomatic and commercial relations.
"We have a very equal relationship. They import 40 billion dollars, we import 45 billion dollars, it is the only country in the world that has a surplus compared to Brazil. We want peace, not war," he stressed, mentioning the United States' intention to apply tariffs on Brazilian steel.
Lula has insisted that Brazil does not want to have an international dispute with any country, but will act towards the United States on the same terms. "If Trump behaves like that towards us (...) there will be reciprocity," he said in an interview on Friday with Radio Clube do Pará.
He also confirmed that he has not yet spoken to President Trump, although he played down the issue, saying that the relationship between the two countries is a matter of "states," not specific people. "He takes care of the United States, I take care of Brazil," he concluded.
Although he has criticized that "democracy seems to not be worth as much" under Trump's United States, after having set himself up as its defender after World War II, now threatening with tariffs, expelling millions of people, 'America for the Americans', or taking Canada, Greenland, or the Panama Canal.
For this reason, Lula has defended "tranquility" as the driving force of universal progress and that Donald Trump "cannot do what he wants because if his actions affect other countries, they will react."
