Brazil’s president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has rejected the overwhelming criticism from the United States over the conviction of the country’s former leader, Jair Bolsonaro, on the charges of “attempted coup” and slammed Washington’s sweeping tariffs on Brazilian products as “misguided” and “illogical”.
His comments were published in an op-ed in The New York Times on Sunday. Following Bolsonaro’s first public appearance since last week’s conviction.
In his essay, Lula said he wanted to establish “an open and frank dialogue” with US President Donald Trump over his administration’s imposing a 50 percent tariff on Brazilian products, including coffee and beef exports, in the wake of Bolsonaro’s trial.