Will Call PM Modi': Brazilian President Refuses Talks With Donald Trump

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has refused to contact Donald Trump, days after the US President claimed Silva can call him anytime to discuss tariffs and other friction between the countries.

In a video, widely shared on social media, Silva could be heard saying he would not take the initiative to speak to Donald Trump, adding that he would rather call Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping. “I am not going to call Trump to negotiate anything, because he doesn’t want to talk," Silva said during an event.

“But rest assured, Marina, I will call Trump to invite him to the COP, because I want to know what he thinks about the climate issue. I will have the courtesy to call, I will call him, I will call Xi Jinping, I will call Prime Minister Modi," he said. “I just won’t call Putin, because Putin can’t travel right now. But I will call many presidents," Silva added.

On August 1, Trump said that Brazilian President Silva can call him anytime to discuss tariffs and other things. “He can talk to me anytime he wants," Trump said of Lula, speaking to reporters at the White House. He added he was fond of the Brazilian people but “the people running Brazil did the wrong thing."

Trump slapped a 50 percent tariff on Brazil, with many exemptions, in what he called a “witch hunt" against former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is on trial on charges of plotting a coup following his election loss in 2022. The US also announced sanctions on a Brazilian Supreme Court justice who has been overseeing Bolsonaro’s trial.

Lula has rejected both the sanctions and the tariffs, calling them “unjustifiable" and an “unacceptable" interference in Brazil’s justice system.