Lula travels to Washington for meeting with Trump, numerous issues on the table

(Patria) - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva traveled to Washington on Wednesday for talks with US President Donald Trump on sensitive issues, while also seeking to improve his image at home ahead of the October elections, AFP reports.

Lula (80) and Trump (79) are ideologically opposed and have had a problematic relationship, and their meeting today will be only their second official encounter since they spoke in Malaysia last year.

That meeting was cordial and led to the easing of tariffs that Washington had imposed on Brazil due to the trial of former president Jair Bolsonaro, a Trump ally who is now serving a twenty-seven-year prison sentence for attempted coup.

Much has changed since then: the United States overthrew Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and launched a war against Iran together with Israel.

Lula, who accused Trump of acting like an "emperor", has openly opposed these actions.

"I am against any country in the world that interferes and engages in political meddling," he said last month.

Lula is going into the meeting politically weakened after a series of defeats in Congress. In pre-election opinion polls, he is tied with Bolsonaro's eldest son, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro. The experienced leftist is seeking a fourth non-consecutive presidential term.

Oliver Stuenkel, a professor of international relations at the Getulio Vargas Foundation in Sao Paulo, told AFP that Lula will want to "strengthen his personal relationship with Trump" to reduce the risk of US interference in the elections, such as openly expressing support for Flavio.

He said there is a division between "more pragmatic strategists" in Washington and "MAGA people who are extremely eager to convince Trump to intervene in the elections".

Fight Against Cartels

Security is a major concern for Brazilian voters ahead of the elections, and the fight against organized crime is high on the meeting's agenda.

Finance Minister Dario Durigan, who is part of the delegation, said on Wednesday that Brazil wants to expand cooperation in the fight against cartels.

The US and Brazil signed an information-sharing agreement in April to combat arms and drug trafficking, such as X-ray data on containers traveling from the US to Brazil.

Trump made the fight against so-called "narco-terrorism" a priority of his second term, designating major cartels as foreign terrorist organizations and using this to justify the overthrow of Maduro.

Stuenkel said Brazil wants to show it is doing its part and hopes to "reduce the risk" of Washington designating powerful Brazilian gangs, Comando Vermelho and Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC), as terrorist groups.

"The US increasingly sees these groups as sophisticated transnational criminal organizations with regional reach," said Rebecca Bill Chavez, president of the Washington-based Inter-American Dialogue.

"But, in Brazil, there is real concern about the legal, political, and sovereignty implications of applying a terrorism framework to criminal groups."

Battle for Rare Minerals and Discussion on Payment System

Brazil's vast reserves of rare minerals, crucial for the production of high-tech goods, which Washington seeks to invest in, are also being discussed. Brazil possesses the world's second-largest reserves of critical elements, after China.

"Of course, foreign investment in Brazil is welcome, but we want to... encourage industrialization within Brazil, creating high-quality jobs in partnership with our universities," said Durigan.

The US is also investigating Brazil for unfair trade practices, such as whether the country's free PIX electronic payment system undermines the competitiveness of American companies.

Launched in 2020, PIX has revolutionized payments in Brazil and surpassed the use of credit and debit cards, with seven billion transactions in January alone, according to central bank data.