Lula: Trump cannot impose his will on other countries

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has said US President Donald Trump does not have the authority to govern countries outside the United States.

Lula made the comment in an exclusive interview with Christiane Amanpour of CNN ahead of the ongoing United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.

According to Lula, Trump’s foreign policy approach appears to be driven by the belief that powerful countries should determine how others operate.

“President Trump was elected to be the US president. He has the right to govern the US, but he doesn’t have the right to govern other countries,” Lula said.

“He doesn’t have the right to impose his will. He has to have the willingness to negotiate.

“He has a way of governing that I’m stronger, I’m the mightiest, I’m the richest, I can do everything, and all the others have to obey. I don’t agree with that. It’s the stronger law.”

The Brazilian president said nations should be able to defend their sovereignty and pursue their interests without the United States imposing its will on them.

“We just want to say that every country has their own sovereignty. They take care of their own interests and the US cannot impose their rules over the others,” he added.

Lula also spoke against tariffs introduced by the Trump administration on Brazilian imports.

In July, the US imposed a 25 percent tariff on some Brazilian goods following a year-long investigation by the US Trade Representative (USTR).

The US said the tariffs were a response to “unreasonable Brazilian policies affecting digital trade, electronic payments, intellectual property, ethanol market access, anti-corruption enforcement and illegal deforestation”.

Lula rejected the justification, describing the tariffs as “based on lies”, and said Brazil had responded by pursuing stronger commercial ties with other countries.

According to Lula, Brazil’s exports to the US dropped by nine percent, while imports from the US fell by 8.5 percent after the tariffs were introduced.

He said trade between Brazil and China rose by 20 percent, while trade with Japan increased by 18 percent and that with Germany grew by 60 percent.

Lula added that Brazil’s trade with the European Union also recorded a 23 percent increase.

“So I’m not going to just try to cry out about the milk that was spilled on the floor. I’m going to seek other partners to try to buy and sell,” he said.

He said Brazil remains engaged in negotiations with the US and would only consider retaliatory action if the discussions failed.

“I don’t want to go to a tariff war with the US and neither with any other country,” Lula said.

The Brazilian president also cautioned Trump against interfering in Brazil’s elections.

Lula said he was worried about possible interference in Brazil’s electoral process but admitted that there was no concrete evidence to support the suspicion.

“There’s some clues of interference, of artificial intelligence going on. I’m a little bit concerned with Marco Rubio, because Marco Rubio is very close to the Bolsonaro’s family,” he said.

“But for the meanwhile, we just have suspicion. There’s nothing concrete.”

Lula also criticised the Trump administration’s actions in Venezuela.

In January, the US captured former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro during a military operation.

Delcy Rodríguez, who was Maduro’s vice-president, was later sworn in as interim president.

Following Maduro’s capture, Trump said the US would temporarily oversee the administration of Venezuela.

Lula, however, said the actions of the US had created the impression that Washington was now running Venezuela.

“The US conveys the idea that they’re governing Venezuela,” he said.

“Every document that we read, the agreements, it looks like the US is the big boss of Venezuela. The sovereignty of the country has ended.”

The Brazilian president said the situation was harmful to Venezuela, the US and democracy.

He said Venezuela should be able to decide its political future through elections instead of having its affairs controlled by another country.

“If I was Delsi, the president, I would call for election, national election, so that people could choose who’s going to be the next president of the country,” Lula said.