'Not even the Soviet Union' would do what Trump is doing to Brazil, Amorim tells the Financial Times

Celso Amorim, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's top foreign policy advisor, criticized in an interview with the British business newspaper Financial Times the Donald Trump administration's threat to impose a 50% tariff on Brazilian exports to the United States.

Amorim told the newspaper that the Republican's attempt to interfere in Brazilian internal affairs is unprecedented "not even in colonial times."

"Not even the Soviet Union would have done something like this," he said, pointing out that Trump is trying to act politically within Brazil in favor of former President Jair Bolsonaro , "his friend."

The tariffs were announced by Trump on July 9th and are set to take effect August 1st. The US president cited as a reason for the tariffs the Brazilian justice system's treatment of Bolsonaro in the case in which the former president and Republican ally is accused of plotting a coup. Trump calls this a "witch hunt" against his ally. Lula, meanwhile, called the threat "unacceptable blackmail."

In the interview with the FT, Amorim reaffirmed Brazil's decision to deepen its participation in the BRICS bloc, formed by Brazil, China, Russia, India and South Africa, despite pressure from Trump.

The Republican imposed a 10% surtax on countries aligned with the BRICS, which he considers an anti-US group, and criticized Lula's speeches advocating a "de-dollarization" of the global economy during the bloc's meeting in Rio, earlier this month.

"What is happening is strengthening our relations with the BRICS, because we want to diversify our relationships and not depend on any single country," said Amorim, emphasizing that Brazil also intends to strengthen ties with countries in Europe, Asia, and South America.

Although China is Brazil's largest trading partner, with imports of mainly agricultural and mineral products reaching US$94 billion last year, the former foreign minister denied that Brazil wants Beijing to be the main beneficiary of high US tariffs.

At the same time, Amorim rejected the idea that BRICS has an ideological character, defending the bloc as a way to support the global multilateral order, especially given the unilateral and isolationist stance of the United States under Trump.

Lula's advisor also called on the European Union to quickly ratify the trade agreement with Mercosur, highlighting that ratification would bring not only immediate economic gains but also greater balance in global relations.

The international advisor also mentioned that Canada has shown interest in negotiating a free trade agreement with Brazil and indicated that the last year of the Lula administration will have a greater focus on the integration of South America, a region that trades less internally than any other in the world.

For Amorim, Trump is an unusual case in diplomacy: "Countries don't have friends, they have interests; but Trump has neither friends nor interests, only desires." He stated that the former American president's approach is "an illustration of absolute power."

The statements made by Lula's advisor to the Financial Times come at a time when the Brazilian government appears to consider the entry into force of Trump's tariff hike next Friday inevitable.

Brazilian authorities and Lula himself have publicly complained about not having channels of negotiation with the White House.

Last Friday (25), the Brazilian president said that the president of the United States, Donald Trump, was led to believe "a lie", that former president Jair Bolsonaro is suffering persecution.

"Bolsonaro is not my problem, he is a problem for the Brazilian justice system," said the president during an event in Osasco (SP).

"If President Trump had called me, I would certainly have explained to him what was going on with the former president," he said.

Lula made himself available to negotiate a 50% tax on Brazilian exports and said he had chosen an "excellent negotiator" for the task, the vice president and minister of Industry and Commerce, Geraldo Alckmin.

Opposition governors, such as Tarcísio de Freitas (São Paulo), Ronaldo Caiado (Goiás) and Ratinho Jr. (Paraná) criticized the federal government's strategy at an investor event in São Paulo.

Ratinho Jr. (PSD) called Lula's remarks about de-dollarizing trade "lack of intelligence." "Bolsonaro is no more important than this trade relationship between the United States and Brazil," he said. None of the governors mentioned Trump's demands regarding Bolsonaro.