Lula is an uncomfortable but necessary trading partner

On Oct. 25, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva became president of Brazil for the fourth time. After a first-round defeat, he made a radical comeback and won the election with 51.8 percent over his rival, President Trump’s ally Flávio Bolsonaro, who reached 48.2 percent. That’s a difference of more than 4 million votes. 

Following his victory, Lula stated that Brazil “will not accept being anyone’s backyard.” The next day, President Trump said it “looked like another rigged election.” Despite this, the two presidents have met three times over the last 13 months — not out of ideological affinity, but rather for the sake of commercial pragmatism.

In 2025, U.S. goods and services trade with Brazil totaled $135.7 billion, up 6.5 percent from 2024. The U.S. is Brazil’s second-largest trading partner. Both countries need each other, beyond the huge ideological differences. 

President Trump said: “I’m not running Brazil, I’m running the USA. I like Lula, I get along with him pretty well. I just think it had a very bad look, the election, the way it was tabulated.” 

Lula and Trump represent opposite poles. While the U.S. president comes from the private sector, Lula was a labor leader who, for more than 50 years, fought against the private sector. He is a classic 20th-century leftist leader, friend of dictators like Fidel Castro in Cuba and Daniel........

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