Lula’s “Trump Is My Friend” Line Signals a Real Shift in Brazil–U.S. Risk

Key Points

• Lula’s jokes about peace with Trump are a public signal that both sides want bargaining, not escalation.
• The warmth follows a 40-minute call that touched tariffs, trade ties, and cooperation against organized crime.
• Days earlier, Washington lifted sanctions on a Brazilian Supreme Court justice, easing a major bilateral irritant.

“Everyone thought I was going to go to war with Trump. Trump became my friend.”

With that line, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva turned a tense diplomatic storyline into a disarming sound bite. Speaking to reporters at the presidential palace in Brasília on Thursday, December 18, Lula said that “two 80-year-old men” have no reason to fight.

He promised disputes would be resolved with “no shots, no weapons, no bombs,” and no spectacle like ships “blocking the Brazilian coast.” He said he told Trump that words, used well, can be stronger than any weapon.

The joke lands because the backdrop has been serious. Earlier this year, the Trump administration imposed punitive measures linked to Brazil’s high-stakes legal battles involving former president Jair Bolsonaro.

These included tariffs on Brazilian goods and Global Magnitsky sanctions against Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, the judge at the center of Bolsonaro-related cases.

The moves hit a political nerve in Brasília and raised a practical fear in boardrooms: that legal conflict inside Brazil could spill into trade rules and export access. What changed is not affection. It is leverage and fatigue.

Brasília and Washington Cool Tensions

On December 2, Lula and Trump held a call that Brazilian officials described as “very productive” and that lasted about 40 minutes. The agenda was transactional: trade, the economy, and cooperation against organized crime.

In that same official framing, Lula thanked Trump for lifting additional tariffs on several Brazilian food exports, including coffee and beef, while pushing negotiations to expand relief to other products.

In Washington, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer publicly described multiple “constructive interactions” with Lula, while warning that investigations and disputes have not vanished.

Then came the clearest sign of thaw: on December 12, the U.S. removed Justice de Moraes, his wife Viviane Barci de Moraes, and the Lex Institute from the sanctions list, reversing a step that had become a diplomatic lightning rod.

For readers abroad, the meaning is straightforward. When leaders lower the temperature in public, companies can plan in private. A calmer Brasília–Washington channel reduces the odds that politics turns into sudden tariffs, compliance shocks, or investment paralysis.