The Great Debate: Will Trump's new tariffs help Lula or Flávio in the elections?
Businessman Leonardo Bortoletto and lawyer Soraia Mendes debated, on Tuesday (2), in O Grande Debate (Monday to Friday, at 11pm), whether Trump's new tariffs help Lula or Flávio in the elections?
After the United States' announcement about a possible new tariff on Brazilian products, President Lula's (PT) campaign began a movement to link the threat to an alleged articulation by Flávio Bolsonaro, a pre-candidate for the Presidency for the PL. The topic generated intense debate about national sovereignty, international relations and the possible electoral consequences of the episode.
According to CNN's investigation, the PT's assessment is that Flávio Bolsonaro is trying to reap political rewards by classifying the PCC and Comando Vermelho as terrorist organizations by the United States. The party's view is that the senator's visit to the White House will cause other American decisions, such as tariffs, to be associated with him in the electoral dispute.
The topic should not be reduced to the electoral agenda
Businessman Leonardo Bortoletto argued that the issue goes far beyond the political sphere. "Bringing up this issue and making this issue an electoral and electoral stage only harms the topic and the subject," he stated. For him, the issue involves the sovereignty of both countries and must be treated with technical, and not ideological, pragmatism.
Bortoletto highlighted that the document sent by the United States to Brazil, referring to Section 301 of the USTR, deals with specific sectors and deserves careful analysis. "There is no way in mathematics or Portuguese to get away from calculations and text interpretation", he said. He argued that the only way to resolve a tariff issue is through technical negotiation, with experts at the table. "Who wins, Lula or Bolsonaro, I don't know. It's all of us who lose," he concluded.
The issue is political and involves national sovereignty
Lawyer Soraia Mendes adopted a more blunt position, classifying the episode as essentially political. She stated that all behind-the-scenes information indicates that recent decisions by the United States - including the classification of Brazilian criminal organizations as terrorists and the new tariff - are linked to the actions of members of the Bolsonaro family.
"These people who, at a certain point, through Eduardo Bolsonaro, won a tariff that came to the detriment of our economy and who now, through Flávio Bolsonaro, are once again able to interfere in our economy in a harmful way, are traitors to the country", declared Soraia Mendes. She argued that such acts should be subject to criminal liability.
Will Lula's campaign be successful in linking prices to Flávio?
When asked whether the PT strategy would be successful, Bortoletto was skeptical. For him, the topic is technical and does not involve ideological narratives. "Putting one as the devil and the other as the savior is very foolish," he said, adding that the American market is guided by pragmatism and that the solution will come when competent technicians sit down at the negotiating table.
He also made a direct appeal: "It's time, President Lula, for you to defend agriculture. It's time for you to put these important, mathematical and economic questions on the table."
Soraia Mendes, in turn, said she is not sure about the success of the PT campaign, but believes that the debate could strengthen the feeling of defending sovereignty among Brazilians. "Sovereignty is not something that should be in dispute, even among those who defend more right-wing ideological perspectives," he said.
She also analyzed the internal scenario in the United States, pointing out a protagonism dispute between Marco Rubio and J.D. Vance for the succession of Donald Trump, which, according to her, makes the issue even broader than Brazilian electoral politics.
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Source: CNN