‘Trump Has No Right to Govern Other Countries’ — Brazil’s Lula

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has told United States President Donald Trump that he has no right to impose his will on other countries, insisting that nations must be allowed to protect their sovereignty and pursue their own interests.

Lula made the remarks in an exclusive interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour ahead of the ongoing United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.

The Brazilian leader said Trump’s approach to international relations appeared to be based on the notion that the most powerful country should dictate terms to others.

“President Trump was elected to be the US president. He has the right to govern the US, but he doesn’t have the right to govern other countries,” Lula said.

“He doesn’t have the right to impose his will. He has to have the willingness to negotiate.”

Lula maintained that every country had the right to determine its own affairs, stressing that the United States should not impose its rules on other nations.

“We just want to say that every country has their own sovereignty. They take care of their own interests and the US cannot impose their rules over the others,” he said.

The Brazilian president also criticised tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on Brazilian imports.

According to the account of the interview, the US imposed a 25 per cent tariff on certain Brazilian goods in July following an investigation by the US Trade Representative.

Washington said the measures were in response to what it described as Brazilian policies affecting digital trade, electronic payments, intellectual property, ethanol market access, anti-corruption enforcement and illegal deforestation.

Lula rejected the justification for the tariffs, describing it as based on “lies”. He said Brazil had responded by seeking to strengthen trade relations with other countries.

The president said Brazil’s exports to the US had fallen by nine per cent, while imports from the US declined by 8.5 per cent following the tariffs.

He also cited increased trade with China, Japan, Germany and the European Union as part of Brazil’s efforts to diversify its trading partners.

“So I’m not going to just try to cry out about the milk that was spilled on the floor. I’m going to seek other partners to try to buy and sell,” Lula said.

He added that Brazil was still negotiating with the US and would only consider retaliatory measures if the talks failed.

“I don’t want to go to a tariff war with the US and neither with any other country,” he said.

Lula Raises Concerns Over Possible Election Interference

Lula also expressed concern about possible US interference in Brazil’s elections, although he acknowledged that there was no concrete evidence to support the suspicion.

The Brazilian president said there were “some clues” involving alleged interference and artificial intelligence. He also referred to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s relationship with the Bolsonaro family.

“But for the meanwhile, we just have suspicion. There’s nothing concrete,” Lula said.

Brazilian President Criticises US Role in Venezuela

The Brazilian leader also criticised the Trump administration’s role in Venezuela, saying Washington’s actions had created the impression that the United States was governing the South American country.

His comments followed the US military operation that resulted in the capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January and the subsequent emergence of Delcy Rodríguez as interim president.

Reuters reported earlier this month that Rodríguez was leading Venezuela’s interim government and engaging with US officials on economic and energy matters.

“The US conveys the idea that they’re governing Venezuela,” Lula said.

“Every document that we read, the agreements, it looks like the US is the big boss of Venezuela, the sovereignty of the country has ended.”

Lula argued that the situation was detrimental to Venezuela, the United States and democracy, insisting that Venezuelans should be allowed to determine their political future through elections.

“If I was Delcy, the president, I would call for election, national election, so that people could choose who’s going to be the next president of the country,” he said.

Lula’s remarks come amid Trump’s continued defence of an expanded US role in Venezuela and the wider Western Hemisphere.

In his September 22 address to the UN General Assembly, Trump cited the Venezuela operation while calling for greater US military dominance in the region.