Overview
- The two leaders met at the White House on Thursday in a session that shut out reporters after a planned press availability was canceled.
- Trump posted that the meeting “went very well,” saying they discussed trade and tariffs and that their teams will keep talking in the coming months.
- Lula later told reporters at Brazil’s embassy that he left “very satisfied” and said Brazil is open to investment in critical minerals and to deeper cooperation against organized crime.
- Brazil still faces a 10% extra tariff until July, and a U.S. Section 301 probe into alleged unfair practices could bring new duties, which Brazilian officials fear after quiet Commerce talks two weeks earlier.
- Negotiators left key disputes unresolved, including a minerals framework that Brazil wants to tie to domestic processing and U.S. consideration of terrorist designations for major gangs that police warn could hit the economy and banks.