Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva

São Paulo, Brazil – The return of Donald Trump to the White House was not the scenario President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva had likely hoped for. On the eve of the U.S. elections, Lula voiced his preference for the Democratic contender, Vice President Kamala Harris, in an interview with French broadcaster TF1.

“As a lover of democracy, which I believe is the most sacred tool humanity has devised to govern itself, I naturally root for Kamala Harris to win the elections,” the Brazilian president declared.

Yet, the outcome was different. Trump emerged victorious and, come January 20, 2025, will once again lead the world’s most powerful nation, four years after leaving office shrouded in criticism, including from his response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the January 6, 2021 attacks from his supporters on the U.S. Capitol.

In Brazil, he will face a different government to those which he experienced in his first term, which were more sympathetic to his right-wing, nationalist style of politics…

Lula’s initial response to Trump’s election indicated openness to dialogue. In a post on X, he congratulated him on his win and his return to the U.S. presidency, emphasizing that democracy reflects the people’s will and wishing the incoming administration success. n an interview with Brazil Reports, Leandro Loureiro, a professor of International Relations at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, said that the relationship between Lula and Trump should be marked by objectivity, with them prioritizing issues of common interest to both countries.

“Lula will likely avoid direct confrontations and prioritize cooperative agreements on shared issues. Conversely, Trump’s approach toward Lula may also be results-oriented, seeking favorable deals. Both leaders are likely to place economic interests above political and ideological differences. Environmental issues may emerge as the primary source of tension,” Loureiro explained.

Dawisson Belém Lopes, a professor of International Politics at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, emphatically told Brazil Reports that Lula and Trump have very different personalities, which can be an obstacle to building bridges.

“They defend a set of perspectives, of visions that are diametrically opposed, starting with the reading that one and the other have of multilateralism, international institutions, international law, the use of force, the question of Palestine and, I think, above all, the status of democracy. Today I don’t see any clear areas of convergence. It will have to be built with skill by the diplomatic corps of the two countries.” […].

-Brazil Reports

DUQUE DE CAXIAS, Brazil, July 4 (Reuters) - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva suggested on Friday that he will stand for re-election in 2026 but stopped short of making a formal announcement.

"Get ready. If everything goes the way I am thinking, this country will, for the first time, have a president elected four times by the Brazilian people," Lula told an event in Rio de Janeiro.

The 79-year-old leftist leader was elected in 2022 for his third non-consecutive term, having previously served as president between 2003 and 2010.

On October 27, 2002, at the age of 57, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was elected President of the Federative Republic of Brazil for the first time, with almost 53 million votes. Liberal Party (Partido Liberal/PL) businessman and senator for Minas Gerais José Alencar became vice-president.

That same year, the PT National Convention approved a broad political alliance (made up also of political parties PL, PCdoB, PCB and PMN) based on a government program to redeem the country’s social debts to the vast majority of the Brazilian people.

President Lula’s first term as president put Brazil on the right track and prepared it for economic growth alongside important social progress and a significant improvement in income distribution – mostly due to a policy to value Brazil’s minimum wage, to record generation of jobs and to income distribution programs such as Bolsa Família.

On October 29, 2006, once again alongside Vice President José Alencar, Lula was re-elected President with over 58 million votes – then the biggest turnout in the history of Brazil.

Second presidential term

Lula took on his second term on January 1, 2007. That same year, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) began placing Brazil on the list of nations with a high Human Development Index.

On April 30, 2008, Standard & Poor’s granted the Brazilian economy an investment-grade scale and was followed by Fitch and Moody's. Also in 2008, Petrobras carried out an unprecedented feat: extracting oil from Brazil’s pre-salt layer, over 7,000 meters down in oceanic waters.

2008 was also the year of the storm triggered by the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers on September 15. The episode expanded the existing financial crisis – the worst since the crash of the New York Stock Exchange in 1929.

In Brazil, President Lula proclaimed that the “tsunami” sweeping the world would turn into a “small wave” in Brazil. Following a reduction in interest rates and taxes; incentives for consumption; the offer of credit; a minimum wage recovery policy; and more investments in social programs and infrastructure, Brazil emerged much stronger from the first round of that great crisis...

In the 2022 presidential campaign Lula built a broad network of support, gathering notables and politicians from different political parties to back his candidacy – and even Geraldo Alckmin, against whom he had disputed the 2006 election, as vice president. At the end of a fiercely contested election, Lula became the first Brazilian citizen to occupy the Presidency of the Republic three times by the sovereign will of the people. Over 60 million Brazilian men and women gave Lula the biggest vote in history.

On January 1, 2023, Lula ascended the Planalto Palace ramp alongside people who represent Brazilian diversity and received the presidential sash from recyclable material collector Aline Sousa. Aline was able to go to college thanks to the public policies of Lula’s two previous terms. One cycle was completed, and another began.

Biography - President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

Sep 07, 2023