Trump says he could work out some deals with Brazil

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday that he expected to reach mutually beneficial agreements during his meeting with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Malaysia.

“I think we should be able to make some pretty good deals for both countries,” Trump said ahead of their talks.

Lula expressed optimism that relations between Brazil and the United States would progress as a result of the meeting. “There’s no reason for any kind of conflict between Brazil and the United States,” he said through a translator.

The two leaders met on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur. Following the discussion, Brazil’s Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira described the encounter as positive and said Trump had instructed officials to begin a bilateral negotiation process.

“We will establish a timetable for negotiations and identify the sectors to be discussed so that we can move forward,” Vieira told reporters at the summit, noting that Brazil had asked for tariffs to be suspended during the talks.

Trump raised tariffs on U.S. imports of most Brazilian goods from 10% to 50% in early August, blaming the increase on what he described as a “witch hunt” against Brazil’s former president, Jair Bolsonaro.

Lula has previously criticised the tariff hike as a “mistake,” pointing to a U.S. trade surplus of $410 billion with Brazil over the past 15 years.

The higher tariffs have already begun to reshape the global beef trade, driving up prices in the United States and prompting indirect shipments via third countries such as Mexico, while Brazil’s exports to China continue to surge.

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