Brazil’s president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has slammed the sweeping tariffs imposed by the United States on his country as “misguided” and “illogical”, while also dismissing Washington’s criticism over the conviction of the country’s former leader, Jair Bolsonaro, on coup charges.The comments, published in an op-ed in The New York Times on Sunday, came as Bolsonaro made his first public appearance since last week’s conviction for a hospital visit.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of listIn his essay, Lula said he wanted to establish “an open and frank dialogue” with his US counterpart, Donald Trump, over his administration’s decision to impose a 50 percent tariff on Brazilian products.He noted that the US has a trade surplus with Brazil, accumulating a surplus of $410bn in trade over the past 15 years, making it clear that the White House’s motivation was political.The tariffs, Lula wrote, are aimed at seeking “impunity” for Bolsanaro, whom he accused of orchestrating the riots in Brasilia on January 8, 2023, when the former leader’s supporters stormed the presidential palace, the Supreme Court and the Congress in protest over his election defeat the previous year. Lula responded on Sunday to Trump’s accusations that the prosecution of Bolsonaro was a ‘witch-hunt’ [File: AFP]The events in the Brazilian capital echoed the storming of the US Capitol by Trump’s supporters on January 6, 2021, after he insisted for months, without evidence, that there had been widespread fraud during the election he lost to his Democratic rival, Joe Biden. Advertisement Lula described Bolsonaro’s actions as “an effort to subvert the popular will at the ballot box” and said he was proud of the Brazilian Supreme Court’s “his …
