On the sidelines of the UN General Assembly last week in New York, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva met with U.S. President Joe Biden. By all accounts, the meeting was productive.
“This meeting here, for me, is more than a bilateral meeting,” Lula declared. “It is the rebirth of a new era in the relationship between the U.S. and Brazil. It is a relationship of equals.”
Lula’s warm tone is a far cry from some of the low points witnessed this year in bilateral ties. These included the Brazilian president in April accusing the U.S. of “encouraging” war in Ukraine instead of pursuing peace. His remarks earned an immediate and sharp rebuke from the White House, with National Security Council spokesman John Kirby denouncing Lula for “parroting Russian and Chinese propaganda.”
The Russo-Ukrainian War has not been the only hot-button issue driving a wedge between the administrations of the two largest countries in the Western Hemisphere. Lula’s unceasing defense of the autocratic regime of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has been poorly received in Washington. So too have the Brazilian president’s persistent calls to dismantle the global dominance of the U.S. dollar in international trade.
None of these disagreements have been put to...
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