KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) -Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Monday that U.S. President Donald Trump had “guaranteed” that the two countries would reach a deal on trade during a recent meeting between the two leaders.
Lula said at a briefing on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit in Malaysia that his discussions with Trump had gone well and that an agreement would be reached “faster than anyone thinks.”
Trump, after leaving Malaysia, said he had a “good meeting” with Lula, who he described as “a very vigorous guy,” but was uncertain about the prospects for a deal.
“I don’t know if anything’s going to happen, but we’ll see,” he told reporters on Air Force One.
The United States has imposed 50% tariffs on Brazilian products in retaliation against the sentencing of former president Jair Bolsonaro.
Lula said recent decisions made by the United States against Brazil were “incorrect”.
However, he said he would be willing to discuss any issue with Trump and was also willing to help the United States on the issue of Venezuela.
“I told him that it was extremely important to take into account Brazil’s experience as the largest country in South America, as the most economically important country that has almost all of South America as a neighbour,” Lula said.
(Reporting by Danial Azhar, Oliver Griffin, Trevor Hunnicutt and Simon Lewis; Writing by David Stanway; Editing by Martin Petty and John Mair)
