Flávio Bolsonaro defends the USA and says that Lula 'licks China's boots'

Flávio Bolsonaro (PL) during live this Wednesday (8).
Reproduction/Youtube/Flávio Bolsonaro
Amid the risk of a new tariff offensive by the Donald Trump government against Brazil, the pre-candidate for the Presidency of the Republic for the PL, senator Flávio Bolsonaro, defended the United States this Wednesday (8) and said that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) "licks his boots of China".
On Tuesday (7), Flávio Bolsonaro participated in a public hearing at the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) on the new tariff.
"I came [to the United States] to protect Brazil from tariffs and also from Lula. Everyone sees how embarrassing Lula is being internationally, someone who attacks the United States at all times, makes a point of saying that he is anti-American (...) Someone who has an ideological position, which is different from mine, obviously, but he [President Lula] does something that I would never do, which is to put ideology above the interests of the people. That's what he's doing. He licks his boots of China and throws rocks at the United States", said Flávio Bolsonaro in an internet broadcast.

The senator also said that he has behind-the-scenes information that indicates that the 25% tariff will in fact be applied to Brazil. "It's already something that everyone is talking about. So, it was up to me to make a technical defense, but also a political one," he added.
The deadline for the United States to decide whether to implement additional tariffs on Brazilian products ends on July 15th.
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Hearing in the United States
At the USTR hearing, Flávio Bolsonaro was accompanied by his brother, the impeached deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro, who lives in the United States and who, in 2025, when the first taxation was announced on Brazilian products, even thanked President Donald Trump.
At the hearing, the senator dedicated part of his speech to criticism of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) and the Lula and PT governments and stated that this is the "worst possible moment" for the application of the measure and defended its postponement.
Participation in the public hearings promoted by USTR is open to interested parties who register. This is how Flávio Bolsonaro gained the space to speak at the event. His actions are independent and have no relation to the actions of the Brazilian government.
The Brazilian government decided not to register to speak at these public hearings. The Brazilian embassy in the United States preferred to send representatives as observers.
The Brazilian government's understanding is that this space, that of public hearings, is not suitable for negotiation, but rather that of technical and high-level conversations.
The Executive continues in negotiations, but assesses that the technical arguments have already been presented (see below).

At the moment, the expectation of people familiar with the negotiations is that the Brazilian government will at least be able to increase the number of exceptions in the list of tariffed products.
Brazilians go to the US to try to stop Trump's tariffs
What is not in the discussions
In his speech, Flávio did not mention topics such as access to the ethanol market, deforestation and the protection of intellectual property, cited by the commercial investigation opened by the United States.

The American government says that Brazil interrupted, in 2017, the balanced tariff treatment applied to ethanol and, since then, has not offered reciprocity to fuel exports from the USA.
In the written argument that the senator sent to the USTR, he stated that there is "tariff asymmetry" between the countries and proposes an agreement between the two countries with zero tariffs on ethanol and sugar.

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On this topic, the Brazilian government notes that the USTR does not maintain that Brazil's current tariff on ethanol violates any bilateral commitments with the United States.
Furthermore, it states that "the tariff applies equally to all countries that do not benefit from a preferential agreement and therefore does not discriminate against the United States."

Minister Márcio Elias Rosa (Development, Industry and Commerce) rejected on Tuesday (7) the idea of including Brazil's tariff reduction on North American ethanol on the negotiating table.
For the minister, concessions on this topic would represent a "risk" for the Northeast region, which has a strong presence of the sugar and alcohol industry.
Brazilian government response
The Brazilian government presented last Thursday (2) a formal response to the conclusion of the United States investigation into the new tariff proposal.
Donald Trump's administration accuses Brazil of "unreasonable" practices that "encumber or restrict" trade with the North Americans. Among them are PIX, illegal deforestation, piracy and failures in the application of anti-corruption laws.
In a document sent to the American government and signed by Chancellor Mauro Vieira, Brazil argued, in seven points, that the USTR did not prove that Brazilian policies are discriminatory or create barriers to US trade.

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