President Lula’s press statement and press conference in New Delhi, on the occasion of his State visit to India

Good morning to you all.

I would like to begin by saying that I was truly surprised yesterday, both at lunch and at dinner. I do not know whether the Brazilian journalists here remember that when Prime Minister Modi [Narendra] visited Brazil last year, we researched which song he liked most. We went to São Paulo to find a singer who could perform it, and we prepared a surprise for him at the reception at the Alvorada Palace. It was clear that he was moved by the song we chose. I had done something similar for President Xi Jinping [President of the People's Republic of China].

When President Xi visited Brazil, we also looked into his favorite song. Coincidentally, it was one his wife used to sing to him. So we arranged for a singer to perform it for him.

Yesterday, however, I was the one who was surprised. During lunch, music began to play, and I realized it had something to do with us. It was Disparada. The band then played Deixa a Vida Me Levar, by Zeca Pagodinho, followed by Disparada, and then Asa Branca.

In the evening, at the dinner hosted by President Murmu, they performed Sem Medo de Ser Feliz, the famous song from my 1989 campaign. I was sincerely moved. I did not imagine they would remember the warm reception we had prepared for them in Brazil. So Prime Minister Modi decided to return the gesture, and it was very meaningful. Some ministers were emotional and sang along, some knew the songs, others did not. Those who did not know them, I am taking note. On a scale from one to ten, those who knew the lyrics will receive a ten. Those who did not are at risk of getting a 1.5 or a 2.5.

Having said that, we are now concluding a cycle of international travel that was part of the strategy of my third term, to restore Brazil’s image and its negotiating capacity in the world, which had suffered an interruption, and you know why, and to reposition Brazil on the global stage.

I can say with great satisfaction that in just three years and two months, we have opened more than 520 new markets for Brazilian products. That is more than we had achieved in many years.

There is a principle I believe in, those who want something go after it. Those who do not, send someone else.

This visit to India has a very special significance.

It was here, in 2005, that I first realized the importance of international reserves. On my first visit, India had accumulated USD 100 billion in reserves. I returned to Brazil convinced that we needed to build our own reserve cushion, an extra safeguard to protect us from external shocks.

For the first time, Brazil moved from being a debtor to the IMF to becoming a creditor. We accumulated USD 370 billion in reserves, at one point the fourth-largest reserve in the world. To this day, that reserve remains a crucial cushion of security for our country.

There were many who wanted to use those reserves for various purposes. But we believe that a cushion designed for critical situations should not be used unnecessarily.

It was also in 2005 that Brazil celebrated reaching USD 100 billion in foreign trade. Journalists who were there will remember that we placed a shipping container at the entrance of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and it remained there for more than two months as a symbol of that milestone. Today, our foreign trade stands at around USD 649 billion, and I hope that before long we will celebrate reaching USD 1 trillion in trade. All we need is to believe in it and continue working toward it.

What matters most in our negotiations with India is that we are not dealing with a former colonizer. When you negotiate with wealthy nations, especially those accustomed to colonial power, there is often a certain authoritarian tone in the negotiations. They do not always take into account the specificities of each nation. They want the law of the strongest to prevail.

With India, it is different. We are two nations with needs. No one is superior to the other. We have religious and linguistic differences; more than 40 languages are spoken here. But we share many similarities in our virtues and in our challenges. When you sit with Indian entrepreneurs, when you meet with Prime Minister Modi, as I did in the past with Prime Minister Singh, you see that our needs are very similar. That makes it much easier to work together, to set goals, to build partnerships between Indian and Brazilian business leaders, to invite Indian investment in Brazil, and to offer Brazilian investment in India. There is no tone of supremacy. No sense of one being greater than the other. It is a relationship among equals. That gives me great confidence and optimism.

When I first came here, Brazil–India trade amounted to only USD 2.4 billion. Today it stands at USD 15.5 billion, which is still modest for two economies of our size.

President Modi and I agreed that we should aim to reach USD 20 billion by 2030. I want you, members of the press, to take note of this.

Sometimes, when I give interviews and I see no one writing anything down, I wonder whether what I am saying is of no interest. So let me make this clear.

I want you to take notes because I told President Modi that we will reach USD 30 billion by 2030. That is the challenge before us. We will reach it because the economic potential of our two countries is enormous.

The needs of the New Industry Brazil program [Nova Indústria Brasil] are even greater, especially in the health sector. We are leaving India with seven agreements in the health area. Seven agreements.

Something the Brazilian press should pay attention to is that Brazil’s Unified Health System, SUS, gives us the opportunity to be one of the most significant consumer markets in the world, not only for medicines, but also for advanced diagnostic and medical equipment. Health is one of the core pillars of the New Industry Brazil strategy. That is where we will focus our efforts to provide the Brazilian people, especially the poorest and most vulnerable but also everyone who wants to access it, with the best possible public healthcare, free of charge, in a country of more than 100 million inhabitants.

Last year, we performed 14.7 million elective surgeries. We also launched the Agora Tem Especialistas program  [Now We Have Specialists], a major initiative to modernize specialized healthcare services in Brazil. All of this will require partnerships: with India, with China, with the United States, with European countries.

Brazil does not have commercial preferences. Brazil has commercial interests. We will do business with anyone willing to do business with us, provided it is a win-win relationship. We do not believe in arrangements where only one side benefits.

A healthy commercial, political, and cultural relationship is one in which you give and you receive. That is how balance is maintained. Just as Brazil is open to China, China is open to Brazil. You may have noticed that we brought the governor of the state of Bahia [Jerônimo Rodrigues], that friendly young man over there, who looks more Indian than Brazilian.

We also brought the Director-General of the Federal Police [Andrei Rodrigues]. Because wherever I go, the Federal Police accompanies me. Organized crime is a multinational enterprise. We must establish agreements, appoint police attachés abroad, and build partnerships to combat organized crime and drug trafficking.

When I travel to the United States to meet President Trump, we will take representatives from our Federal Revenue Service, our Federal Police, our Minister of Finance, and our Minister of Justice.

If the U.S. government is willing to combat drug trafficking and organized crime, Brazil will be on the front lines. We will also request that Brazilian criminals who are there be returned to face justice. Brazilian nationals who have committed crimes, individuals whose criminal conduct is already well known, including those involved in fuel smuggling, and currently in the U.S., should be sent back to Brazil so that we can demonstrate our firm commitment to combating organized crime.

This visit of mine marks a new phase in the relationship between Brazil and India. I can tell you that the natural tendency is for our relationship with India to improve significantly, in every respect, in all of them. This includes Brazilian investments here, in areas such as artificial intelligence, Indian investments in Brazil, partnerships between our universities, between our ministries, because we are the most important democratic brothers of the Global South, and we must set an example. So I return to Brazil very, very satisfied.

I made a point of having Minister Haddad [Fernando Haddad] join this meeting. I insisted on it because we must show the world the moment Brazil is experiencing. Sometimes, the Brazilian press does not show it. But we must show the world that Brazil is currently living through one of the best economic moments in its history.

Not because of the so-called Brazilian miracle of 14 percent growth back in 1970. Because it is not enough for GDP to grow for a country to improve. A country only improves if the growth in GDP is distributed. And that is what we are doing.

That is why we are raising the minimum wage. That is why we have the lowest cumulative inflation over a four-year period in Brazil’s history. That is why we have the largest economically active population in Brazil’s history. That is why we currently have the lowest unemployment rate in Brazil’s history. That is why we now have the highest level of foreign trade in Brazil’s history.

In other words, everything is unfolding as planned and as we worked for it to unfold. Because it was through hard work that we were able to offer international business leaders predictability, fiscal stability, economic stability, social stability, and legal certainty. And today, I am certain that Brazil is one of the countries with the greatest credibility at the international level.

None of this is possible without hard work and seriousness. Having said that, I am pleased when Jorge Viana [President of ApexBrasil] comes here and speaks about the meetings with business leaders.

I had a very important meeting with business leaders. Seven ministers had already spoken before me. I also met with another group of business leaders who together represent a GDP of one trillion dollars.

I met with them to give them confidence that investing in Brazil is worthwhile, that buying Brazilian products is worthwhile, that purchasing Embraer aircraft means acquiring planes that offer more reliability than others available on the market.

Because if we do not have the courage to praise the products we make and to compete for markets, we will never become a country with a truly strong economy.

I am convinced that Brazil and India are about to take an extraordinary leap forward in the quality of our relationship, including the prospect of a direct flight connecting New Delhi, Johannesburg, and São Paulo or Rio de Janeiro.

Having said that, my friends, I now turn to you. And I remind you that Corinthians defeated Atlético Paranaense one to zero. It was a tough match, but we won.

I am at your disposal for questions. Please ask only questions I know how to answer. If it is something more difficult, I will call on my “university bench” here to respond.

Journalist Sudhi Ranjan Sen, Bloomberg: Mr. President, thank you very much for taking our questions. I would like to take you back to the United States, where you are expected to travel soon. On the issue of tariffs, how do you see major economies being affected? And regarding critical minerals and rare earths, what kind of discussion do you intend to have with President Trump in this area? Thank you.

President Lula: In fact, the agenda I want to discuss with the American president goes far beyond critical minerals. We have had diplomatic relations for 201 years. It is a very solid relationship.

We were surprised by the impact of the U.S. tariff measures, because they were implemented in a completely unusual way. It is something unthinkable for a country to announce tariffs against another via Twitter. In the past, there would be meetings between ministers of finance, between ministers of industry and trade. Not now. Now it is done on Twitter.

We have taken our decisions with great caution. As you all know, I have a principle in life: I do not make decisions when I have a 39-degree fever. You have to wait for the fever to pass before making decisions. And I believe we made the right decisions. Some of the measures were later revised by the American government itself. And now we have seen a ruling from the U.S. judiciary that contradicts what had been President Trump’s original position.

Obviously, I cannot judge the decision of another country’s Supreme Court. I do not judge my own, much less that of another country.

What I want to discuss with President Trump is the broader relationship between Brazil and the United States. We are the two largest democracies in the Americas. We are two men who are 80 years old. So we cannot treat democracy lightly. We must deal with it seriously.

I told President Trump over the phone, “We need to take each other by the hand, look each other in the eye, and understand what we want between Brazil and the United States.” There are no vetoes. Nothing is off the table. Let us put all issues on the table.

If it is about combating organized crime, we are ready to engage. If it is about partnerships with Brazil, if it is about exploring critical minerals, we are ready to talk. But the transformation process must take place in Brazil.

What we will no longer allow is for our critical minerals and rare earths to be exploited the way iron ore was for so many years. We dig the hole and ship the raw material abroad, only to buy back manufactured products later. No. Now we want processing and value addition to take place in Brazil.

That is why we created a National Mineral Policy Council, directly under the Presidency of the Republic, so that we can treat this new wealth, which emerges in this moment of global energy transition, with far greater seriousness and strategic direction.

So my agenda with President Trump is a broad one. From my side, I will discuss trade. I will discuss university partnerships. I will discuss the Brazilian community living in the United States. Above all, I want to discuss any matter of interest, including American investment in Brazil, which has declined significantly in recent years.

I do not know what their agenda will be, but I hope that after this meeting, we can ensure that our relationship returns to being highly civilized, highly respectful, and that we will not stop talking by phone whenever an issue arises between Brazil and the United States.

I also want to tell President Trump that we do not want a new Cold War. We do not want to have preferences for one country over another. We want equal relations with all countries. We want to treat everyone on equal terms, and we expect to receive the same treatment in return. If that is possible, I believe everything will return to normal. And that is what I hope for.

Journalist Luciano Pádua, Exame: Mr. President, I would like to return to the topic of India. You had several meetings yesterday, and I would like to better understand two specific private meetings you held, one with Prime Minister Modi and another with business leaders. I would appreciate more details. For example, with Prime Minister Modi, what did you discuss regarding the geopolitical positioning of both countries in a fragmented world? And regarding the business leaders, is there a figure we can report on in terms of announced investments? These are among the largest business groups in India and, consequently, in the world. I would appreciate more detail on these two specific meetings.

President Lula: My conversation with Prime Minister Modi focused on our commercial relationship and on Brazil–India relations. We did not go into detail about international geopolitics. I know what India thinks about certain global issues. I know what Brazil thinks. There are matters where India exercises greater caution, and others where Brazil does. But we focused on what unites us.

What unites us at this moment is our shared effort to strengthen our economies and to move beyond the position in which we currently find ourselves. We want to become highly developed countries.

We did not discuss any issue that could generate controversy between us, because I did not come here to discuss divergence. I came here to discuss convergence between Brazil and India. And I have a great affinity with Prime Minister Modi. A great affinity.

I did not even go into detail with him about his agreement with the United States. That is his matter, just as the agreements we sign are my responsibility. That is how trust is built between people. The conversation was extraordinary.

I can say that it was very successful, for India and for Brazil. There is something sacred in political relations, which is trust. When there is trust, everything becomes easier. It facilitates business engagement, it facilitates agreements between ministries, of which we signed several. It facilitates discussions about partnerships, including in areas such as artificial intelligence. With Prime Minister Modi, I can say I have no issues whatsoever.

Now, regarding the business leaders. I spoke with business leaders who already have investments in Brazil. All of them spoke positively about their relationship with Brazil. All of them said they intend to increase their investments in Brazil.

It would not have been appropriate for me to ask, “When exactly will you invest? How much will you invest?” That would have been improper. But I can tell you that, to my surprise, I wish many Brazilian business leaders could hear what Indian business leaders are saying about Brazil. Perhaps it would encourage them to adjust their own attitudes back home.

Indian business leaders are very optimistic about their investments in Brazil. And that is exactly what I want. You can be sure that investments will come. And soon enough, you will hear about them when they make their announcements.

Let us move to the next question.

Journalist Buvan Baga, AFP: Hello, Mr. President. Good morning. I am with AFP. You mentioned the reaction of the U.S. Supreme Court. You adopted a principle regarding tariffs, that of not engaging in a tariff war.  And secondly, do you believe that middle powers such as Brazil, India, Canada, and Australia have realized the importance of working together, in part because of the tariffs imposed on them, and as a way of responding to Washington’s policies?

President Lula: The concrete fact is that Brazil has long defended the idea that developing countries should form blocs in order to negotiate jointly. That is why we are strong defenders of multilateralism. Because if you allow a small country to negotiate alone with a larger country, the agreement will almost always be detrimental to the smaller one.

That is an experience I bring from my trade union days. You cannot allow a worker to negotiate alone with a company. Either workers come together, organize themselves, and negotiate collectively, or they will lose. In trade, it is the same.

We spent 26 years negotiating an agreement with the European Union. Twenty-six years. When I assumed the presidency of MERCOSUR, I told the European negotiators, both António Costa and Ursula von der Leyen, that I wanted to conclude the agreement while Brazil held the presidency. Because Brazil was prepared to set an example to the world of strengthening multilateralism, especially after President Trump announced unilateral tariff measures. We need to show that together we are stronger and better able to face this kind of challenge.

So I believe that countries like India, Brazil, Australia, and other Global South nations can and should stand together. Because in direct negotiations with a superpower, the tendency is for us to lose. And since we share similar challenges and similar interests, we need to stand together.

This is one of the problems in South America. There is no possibility of any country solving its problems alone. None. “Why do you say that?” I say it because we have more than 500 years of experience. Even though our countries gained independence from colonial powers, the truth is that we remain dependent from a technological and economic standpoint. That is why we must build partnerships with countries that share similarities with us, so that we can combine our potential and become stronger. It is that simple.

When I was a union leader, I would stand at the factory gate and say, “This is a single stick.” And I would break it. Then I would gather a bundle of sticks and say, “This is a bundle, all the workers together.” And I could not break it.

The same applies to countries. We need forums to discuss global issues. Because the reality is that things have not changed. For a long time, we have been advocating for reform of the UN Charter and of the UN Security Council, both in terms of permanent members and overall composition. More countries need to be represented. There is no African country among the permanent members. There is no Latin American country. From Asia, only China is represented. Why is India not on the UN Security Council? A country of 1.4 billion people. Why is Brazil not there? Why is Germany not there? Why is Mexico not there? Why is Nigeria not there? Why is Egypt not there?

There are many countries with populations of more than 100 million people that could contribute to change. The United Nations needs to regain effectiveness and representativeness. As it stands today, it has very limited effectiveness. It can produce excellent diagnoses, but it lacks the remedy. And if you can only diagnose problems but cannot solve them, you lose credibility. So we must strengthen the UN if we want an institution capable of maintaining peace and harmony in the world. And to do that, we need to stand together.

The same applies in economic matters. In recent days, I have called nearly every president to say that we must respond to what happened in Venezuela, what happened in Gaza, what happened in Ukraine. You cannot allow any country, no matter how powerful, to interfere unilaterally in the affairs of others.

That is why we need the UN to play its role. And that is why it must be representative. I believe that together, developing countries and the countries of the Global South can change the economic logic of the world. It simply requires political will.

We have 500 years of experience with a model that did not work for us. Now we must decide whether we want to continue along the same path or change something. I am among those who want change.

Journalist Camila Xavier, Metrópoles: Mr. President, I would like to know what you think about the criticism from evangelical groups regarding the “Neoconservadores em Conserva” section [a satirical Carnival segment that playfully mocked conservative political groups] that appeared during Carnival in the samba school’s tribute to you.

President Lula: Look, I will tell you something. I do not have an opinion about that. First of all, I am not a Carnival artistic director. I did not compose the samba theme. I did not design the floats.

I was simply honored in a beautiful song. It is a shame my mother had already passed away and could not hear it. The song is, in fact, a tribute to my mother. It tells the story of her journey bringing her children from Garanhuns to São Paulo. I honestly believe the samba school did something extraordinary.

It was not up to the President of the Republic to comment on the floats. The only thing up to me was whether or not I would accept being honored. And I accepted. And I am very grateful to the school. Very grateful.

When I return to São Paulo and to Brazil, I will visit the school to thank them for the tribute they paid. It is the story of Dona Lindu leaving Garanhuns for São Paulo. That is all.

Journalist Ajit Singh, Sputnik News: Good morning, Mr. President. You mentioned, for example, India’s full support for the BRICS presidency this year, but what will Brazil’s contributions be to the BRICS agenda? In addition, when there is increased cooperation among BRICS initiatives and we see warnings and statements from the United States opposing this, how does Brazil respond?

President Lula: The BRICS agenda is defined by the country that holds the presidency. Last year it was Brazil, this year it is India. The agenda is set by India. We do not negotiate the agenda. We come prepared to discuss the agenda that each country proposes.

What I heard from Prime Minister Modi is that he intends to mobilize all of India, to promote debate across the entire Indian territory, so that there is broad participation by Indian society in the decisions and discussions within BRICS. That is very positive.

In Brazil, we held the BRICS Social Forum, where we invited social movements to participate. BRICS is a process of building a very strong group, representing nearly half of humanity and almost half of global GDP. What we need is to be aware that ten BRICS members are also part of the G20. Ten.

Now President Macron is exploring whether it might be possible to bring BRICS and the G7 closer together. I know that Prime Minister Modi has already been invited, South Africa has already been invited, and I have also been invited. Three BRICS members participating in the G7.

We are beginning to understand that we do not need confrontation. We do not need G7, G4, G20 as separate worlds. We can move toward building a single framework. Why was the G20 created? Because of the subprime crisis in 2008. Why were the BRICS created? Because of the meetings we held with India, China, and Russia.

What we are doing now is giving shape and visibility to a group that was previously marginalized, what we call the Global South. We are giving it political presence. And yes, we have political ambitions. We created a bank, the BRICS Bank. Everything we have done so far is still very recent.

I know that the United States feels uneasy about BRICS. In reality, the unease is about China, not about BRICS as such.

Since we do not want a new Cold War, what we want is to strengthen a group that, once consolidated, may even merge with the G20. Who knows, perhaps one day we will have a single group. Instead of BRICS, perhaps a G30, or something similar. We do not need so many separate forums. I believe we are moving in that direction, toward a fairer global trading system.

Recently, I was asked here in India, in an interview with India Today TV, whether we are advocating the creation of a BRICS currency. We are not advocating a BRICS currency. No one has ever defended a BRICS currency.

What we want to discuss is something much simpler. For Brazil to trade with India, is it necessary to use the dollar, or can we trade in our own currencies? For Brazil to trade with China, is the dollar indispensable, or can transactions be conducted in Chinese and Brazilian currencies? These are discussions that our finance ministers and our central bank presidents must hold in order to find solutions.

I believe we can demonstrate that it is not strictly necessary to rely exclusively on the dollar. That the United States may not like this initially is obvious. I never expected the United States to immediately agree with such an idea. But we want to debate it. That is all. We want to debate. We want to see whether we can build mechanisms that are fairer and that penalize countries less, especially smaller economies. That is the idea.

That is why I am convinced that BRICS is a way to promote geopolitical balance on planet Earth. We are still a process under construction. Not everyone fully trusts the same things yet, or believes in the same approaches. But that is how processes work. And through this process, I believe we will build a very representative bloc, a very strong one, capable of discussing economic policy and, above all, peace, which is what is missing today.

Last year alone, the world spent 2.4 trillion dollars on weapons. The countries that manufacture weapons are all permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. Those who wage wars are almost all permanent members of the Security Council. And yet the Security Council does not meet to discuss peace. It does not meet.

How can peace be maintained on Earth if the very members of the Security Council, who should be the main advocates for peace, are themselves involved in wars? Change is necessary. And BRICS can make a difference.

I hope that here in India we will have BRICS that are even stronger than those we had in Brazil, which I believe were the strongest BRICS meetings to date. I hope that here in India we will have BRICS that are even more vigorous than those we held in Brazil.

Journalist Tiago Eltz, TV Globo: Good morning, Mr. President. I would like to clarify a statement you made a moment ago. One of the most controversial domestic policies of the American president is his crackdown on immigrants, including undocumented immigrants and those with temporary visas. This is a contentious issue in the United States and has even resulted in deaths. President Trump considers all these immigrants to be criminals. You just said that in your conversation with President Trump, you might agree to receive criminals back to Brazil, or those who committed crimes there…

President Lula: No, you did not hear that here. If I accept the question as you are framing it, it gives the impression that I said that. I did not say that.

Journalist Tiago Eltz: I was just going to finish, because for President Trump they are criminals. You mentioned receiving, for example, fuel smugglers who have already committed crimes…

President Lula: No, no, no. We want to arrest them. I do not want to receive them, I want to arrest them. We seized 250 million liters of gasoline on five ships and handed it over to Petrobras. The person responsible lives in Miami. We sent President Trump a photograph of his house, his name, and we want that person back in Brazil.

Is the goal to fight organized crime? Then hand over our criminals. That is the point. The word is not “receive.” The word is “arrest.”

Journalist Tiago Eltz: That was exactly what I wanted to clarify, based on how you phrased it. So I would like you to explain a bit more about how this cooperation could work. Have you already discussed it, or is it still just an idea? We are here with the Director of the Federal Police. Is this already a structured proposal to be presented at the table?

President Lula: Let me speak. We have not yet had a specific meeting on this. But I have discussed it three times with President Trump over the phone. We have already sent him a list of the matters we want to address. We have sent documents from the Federal Revenue Service. We have sent photographs. We have sent names.

We have already created a dedicated structure to combat organized crime and drug trafficking along our borders, in the Amazon region, to fight smuggling, narcotrafficking, and organized crime, with the participation of all countries that share borders with Brazil.

I told President Trump that we are ready to work with the United States to combat drug trafficking, arms trafficking, and money laundering. Anything that can put the major figures of corruption behind bars, we are prepared to work on.

And these major figures do not live in the favelas. They do not live on the ground floor. They live in penthouses in the most affluent neighborhoods in Brazil and in the most affluent neighborhoods in the United States. And President Trump is already aware of some of the names we have sent.

In my meeting with President Trump, I want to deepen this cooperation. That is why I will take my Federal Police with me. Let him bring the CIA, the FBI, whoever he wants. I will take my Minister of Justice, he can bring his Department of Justice. I will take my Public Prosecutor’s Office, he can bring his. I will take my Federal Revenue Service, he can bring his. Let us put an end to this.

If the objective is to combat organized crime, Brazil is ready. If there is one thing we must work on together, it is fighting organized crime, which is a highly sophisticated multinational industry, with connections in the judiciary, in football, in politics, in business, in every sphere of society.

So I am very optimistic about this meeting with President Trump, so that we can lay everything out clearly and make it known exactly what we intend to do.

Journalist Nelson de Sá, UOL: Good morning, Mr. President. Still on the issue of the reversal of tariffs in the United States, does this give Brazil greater leverage for your meeting and negotiations with President Trump, including in defending the sovereignty of Latin American countries and restoring Brazil’s regional leadership? And as a follow-up, are you relieved that you did not rush to finalize an agreement with Trump earlier, as other countries did, including India?

President Lula: Look, I am relieved that we did not rush and act hastily. I have said that from the beginning.

We created a negotiating commission in Brazil composed of the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, my Vice President, Geraldo Alckmin, and my Foreign Minister, Mauro Vieira, who is here. In other words, three senior ministers of my government were placed at the disposal of the United States to negotiate.

What did I realize? That negotiations are very difficult, because it seems to me that, on the other side, there is not much willingness to negotiate. They seem to believe that President Trump resolves matters on Twitter.

Things only began to move forward when I personally spoke with President Trump, because he gave us a direct phone line so we could communicate.

Sometimes I think there are people who do not want us to succeed in reaching agreements. That is why I want to speak with President Trump in person. I want to sit around a table and have a serious conversation about the importance of a civilized relationship between Brazil and the United States.

Obviously, I cannot judge the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court. A president of another country cannot evaluate or question a Supreme Court ruling. Someone appealed, the Court issued a decision, he may take new measures, someone may appeal again, and there may be another decision.

From our perspective, there was some relief for countries that had been facing tariffs of 40 or 50 percent. Now the rate appears to be 15 percent for everyone. That represents some relief.

I am convinced that through dialogue, Brazil–United States relations will return to normal. They have interests, we have interests. If they impose tariffs on our products, that will generate inflation in the United States and harm the American people. He knows that.

And let me say something else. Brazil does not seek to lead Latin America. We do not want to be a leader. What we want is a respectful relationship within Latin America. We have defined our region as a zone of peace. We do not have nuclear weapons. We want to live in peace. We want to grow economically, create jobs, and improve people’s lives.

And I want to discuss this with him. What is the role of the United States in South America? Is it to help? Or to threaten? Now there are threats directed at Iran. There needs to be an end to this. The world needs stability. The world does not need turbulence; it needs peace.

Let us invest our energy in eradicating hunger in the world. Let us invest our energy in combating violence against women, which is increasing in every country. That is our call. Let us focus on the positive issues we can solve, and set war aside. If we can reach an agreement, it will be good for us, good for South America, good for Latin America, and good for the world. We must send signals of peace.

Today we are living through the highest number of conflicts in the world since the Second World War. Many African countries are facing coups, internal unrest, and the risk of civil war. And there is no effective multilateral institution, which should be the United Nations, stepping in to provide solutions. That is what we should be concerned about building. That is my concern. And I believe we can resolve it.

Let me tell you one thing. I believe deeply in negotiation. As for this so-called chemistry between Trump and me, I truly believe that human relationships are based on chemistry. On shaking hands. On looking each other in the eye. On speaking directly.

I believe that through direct dialogue, we can resolve any problem. I have lived my entire life that way. And I intend to continue doing so. That is why I want this meeting with President Trump. That is all.

Thank you very much. I am now heading to Korea and then to the United Arab Emirates. I would like to thank all of you, journalists, ministers, and members of Congress, for your presence.

Thank you very much.