Talks held on Monday morning between key figures in the U.S. and Brazilian government made it clear that in today’s meeting between Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro in Washington, discussions will be centered around two countries: Venezuela and China.
The former concerns Donald Trump’s desire to make Brazil a more proactive ally in the U.S.’s quest to oust Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro. While aware that Brazil’s Armed Forces are staunchly opposed to military intervention, there is hope from the American side that Jair Bolsonaro’s administration could play the role of negotiator in talks to force new elections in Venezuela.
The China question, however, is far more nebulous and uncertain. Mr. Bolsonaro is in Washington to improve relations between Brazil and the U.S., the two largest countries in the Americas which have rarely had more than timid and amicable ties to one another. Appeasing the U.S., however, could entail reducing cooperation with China—Brazil’s biggest trade partner and Donald Trump’s adversary in an ongoing economic conflict.
Bolsonaro comes to Washington bearing gifts
Upon landing in the U.S., Jair Bolsonaro gleefully tweeted that “for the first time in a long time, a Brazilian president who is not anti-American arrives in Washington.” While exaggerating the opprobrium of his predecessors toward the White House, there is a certain element of truth to what the president wrote: not since the military dictatorship has there been a Brazilian head...
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