RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Trump administration has designated Brazil a “major non-NATO ally,” making good on a pledge president Donald Trump made to Brazil’s leader in March.
The designation was announced by the White House on Wednesday, July 31st, and gives Brazil preferential access to American weaponry and military training, for which other nations outside the alliance are not eligible.
The president sent a memo to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo late Wednesday notifying him of the change, which he had hinted at earlier this year.
The statement comes five months after Trump told Brazil’s President Bolsonaro, during a visit to Washington, that he would take the step.
Sixteen other countries have major non-NATO ally status, including South Korea, Australia, Argentina, and Kuwait. Colombia is the only other Latin American nation affiliated with NATO as a “global partner,” meaning it would not necessarily have to engage in military action.
Bolsonaro ran an unabashedly pro-Trump, pro-American campaign last year. While Bolsonaro was in Washington, Trump said he would be open to granting full NATO membership to Latin America’s largest and most populous nation, even though it does not qualify to join the alliance.
The American president has offered frequent praise for Bolsonaro, who earned the nickname “Trump of the Tropics” last year when he ran a populist right-wing campaign that railed against the government establishment.