{"id":42169,"date":"2026-03-31T07:15:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T14:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=42169"},"modified":"2026-03-31T23:20:56","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T06:20:56","slug":"how-a-diplomatic-snub-evokes-the-complicated-us%e2%80%91brazil-relationship-in-the-second-trump-era","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/how-a-diplomatic-snub-evokes-the-complicated-us%e2%80%91brazil-relationship-in-the-second-trump-era\/","title":{"rendered":"How a diplomatic snub evokes the complicated US\u2011Brazil relationship in the second Trump era"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Anthony W. Pereira<\/a>, Tulane University<\/a><\/em>; King’s College London<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Darren Beattie, the recently appointed<\/a> U.S. State Department senior adviser for Brazil policy, had planned to attend a forum on critical minerals in S\u00e3o Paulo in mid-March. But his visa was denied<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reason had nothing to do with U.S. policy on critical minerals. Rather, Beattie reportedly had plans to make a detour to Brasilia to visit former President Jair Bolsonaro. The right-wing politician, a longtime ally of President Donald Trump, has been in jail serving a sentence for attempting<\/a> to prevent his successor, President Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva, from taking office. On March 25 it was announced that the Brazilian Supreme Court will provisionally allow Bolsonaro to serve his sentence at home<\/a>, due to ill health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Mor\u00e3es, who oversaw Bolsonaro\u2019s trial, denied Beattie\u2019s visa after consulting Brazil\u2019s foreign ministry, which said the visit could amount to \u201cundue interference\u201d in the country\u2019s internal affairs, given that 2026 is an election year. Bolsonaro cannot run for office, due to his criminal conviction, but his son Fl\u00e1vio is the most popular likely opposition candidate. Beattie is a known critic of Lula and Mor\u00e3es and has praised Bolsonaro as representing<\/a> \u201cexactly the type of nationalism that we want and support.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lula, for his part, later claimed that the block<\/a> on Beattie\u2019s visa was payback for the Trump administration\u2019s refusal last year<\/a> to give a visa to Brazilian Health Minister Alexandre Padilha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a professor of Latin American politics<\/a>, I believe the Beattie episode is important given what it reveals about strained U.S.-Brazil ties since Trump\u2019s reelection. Specifically, that relationship has been wrapped up with the U.S. administration\u2019s broader support for Brazil\u2019s former leader and his right-wing base. From the standpoint of Lula\u2019s government, the latest U.S. actions are another instance of meddling in the country, particularly in the lead-up to presidential elections in October.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Brazilian Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes hears testimony from former President Jair Bolsonaro, back to camera at right, accompanied by his lawyer, during his trial. AP Photo\/Eraldo Peres<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Trump-Bolsonaro pipeline<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To some observers and critics<\/a>, the Trump administration\u2019s foreign policy is about dismantling the alliances that propped up the post-World War II international order. But the policy goes beyond that to support<\/a> authoritarian national-populist movements around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, many officials in the Trump administration still accept<\/a> Jair Bolsonaro\u2019s narrative that his criminal conviction<\/a> at the hands of the country\u2019s Supreme Court is a form of \u201clawfare\u201d aimed at repressing him for what he says rather than what he did. The official police and legal record<\/a>, on the other hand, paints a much more damning picture of Bolsonaro\u2019s participation in a coup plot<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet Trump has long echoed the allegations of improper targeting<\/a> of Bolsonaro, including when he imposed punitive 50% tariffs<\/a> on a range of Brazilian exports to the U.S. in July 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those tariffs were later reduced on many products, and the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated them in a February 2026 ruling. Furthermore, Trump and Lula engaged in a later rapprochement of sorts<\/a>, which included the Trump administration\u2019s decision to lift sanctions on Mor\u00e3es<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet the kerfuffle over the Beattie visa shows there remains a fundamentally antagonistic relationship between elements of the Trump and Lula coalitions, despite recent improvements<\/a> in the two countries\u2019 diplomatic relations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lula is expected to visit Trump in Washington, D.C., sometime in the near future<\/a>, and assuming that remains on the agenda, what happens there will be carefully watched for clues about where the bilateral relationship stands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brazil\u2019s fears of Washington\u2019s meddling<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For the Lula administration, the episode with Beattie is part of a much greater concern that the Trump administration could try to tip the scales of the October 2026 presidential election in Brazil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fear is hardly without recent precedent. In 2025, Trump extended a bailout to Argentine President Javier Milei, a Trump ally<\/a>, including a US$20 billion currency swap that buoyed the economy and helped Milei\u2019s far-right party Liberty Advances do well in the October<\/a> legislative elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile in Honduras in December 2025, the Trump-backed candidate Nasry Asfura won a tight presidential election, helped by Trump\u2019s declaration<\/a> that there would be \u201chell to pay\u201d if Asfura\u2019s small lead was overturned in the vote count.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those cases are to say nothing of the explicitly militarized forms of coercive power the Trump administration has used in Venezeula<\/a> with the abduction of President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, or the oil embargo imposed on Cuba<\/a> as a way to undermine the government there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These interventions provoke fear among Lula supporters in Brazil and evoke memories of an earlier age<\/a> of U.S.-backed authoritarianism<\/a> in Brazil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part of the concern is that America\u2019s bitterly polarized society and concerns over the rise of authoritarian politics mirrors Brazil\u2019s own situation. A Genial\/Quaest poll<\/a> from early March 2026<\/a> shows a statistical tie in electoral support for Lula of the Workers\u2019 Party and Fl\u00e1vio Bolsonaro of the Liberal Party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Flavio Bolsonaro, son of former President Jair Bolsonaro and a candidate in Brazil\u2019s October presidential election, gestures to supporters during a protest against President Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva in S\u00e3o Paulo on March 1, 2026. AP Photo\/Andre Penner<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Beattie, too, serves as a kind of proxy for the politics that Trump represents \u2013 and that Lula aims to prevent in Brazil in the form of Bolsonarism. Before landing a job in the current administration<\/a>, Beattie was fired from the first Trump administration<\/a> for attending a conference at which prominent white nationalists, including Richard Spencer and Peter Brimelow, were also present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later, Beattie helped found the pro-Trump conservative Revolver News, and he has a long history<\/a> of making what critics have framed as inflammatory remarks and promoting conspiracy theories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The clash between ideology and pragmatism<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It is unclear whether a pragmatic approach will prevail in U.S. policy toward Brazil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At present, there are elements of such an approach in U.S. policy toward Venezuela. The Trump administration is happy to negotiate with the Delcy Rodr\u00edguez government as long as it receives Venezuelan oil exports. While Lula and other critics have<\/a> castigated the Trump administration\u2019s removal of Maduro from power<\/a>, the current U.S. policy of dealing with the remaining Chavista leadership in Venezuela \u2014 albeit on terms favorable to the U.S. \u2014 signals a degree of pragmatism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Brazil, the Trump administration has ample reasons for making deals with Lula, including to gain access to the country\u2019s critical minerals, such as niobium, lithium and cobalt. Brazil has an estimated<\/a> 20% to 23% of the world\u2019s rare earth minerals, and U.S. government officials and investors are very interested in these deposits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It could be that the personal relationship between Trump and Lula and the economic interest of the U.S. in Brazil\u2019s critical minerals cause the Trump administration to stay neutral in the October presidential election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, the Lula administration, consistent with a long-standing concern in Brazilian diplomacy to maintain autonomy in its dealings with other countries, is reluctant to sign an exclusive agreement with the U.S. on critical minerals. That concern was on display earlier<\/a> in March, when no Lula administration officials attended a U.S. Embassy-hosted summit on critical minerals in S\u00e3o Paulo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover, Brazil will likely continue to resist any U.S. pressure to diminish its trade relationship with China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Two
Lula pats the chest of Colombian President Gustavo Petro, another South American leader who has been in Trump\u2019s crosshairs. AP Photo\/Fernando Vergara<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Lula administration is also alarmed that the Trump administration might classify<\/a> two of its organized criminal groups \u2013 the Primeiro Comando da Capital and Comando Vermelho \u2013 as terrorist organizations. Such designations have formed a key basis of recent aggressive American actions across the hemisphere, and some in Brazil fear they could be extended to their country, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is other evidence, however, that aggressive anti-Lula and pro-Bolsonaro officials in the Trump administration, such as Beattie, would like to tip the scales<\/a> in favor of the opposition<\/a> in the October elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beattie\u2019s schedule in Brazil had included a meeting<\/a> with the likely presidential candidate Fl\u00e1vio Bolsonaro, discussions with Brazilian government officials about court decisions to block social media accounts, and meetings with civil servants at the Superior Electoral Court in order to better understand Brazil\u2019s electronic voting system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This agenda raised concerns that it could form a pretext for later allegations that the 2026 election was fraudulent and that Brazilian voters\u2019 free speech rights were infringed by the judiciary. Such allegations were made<\/a> by supporters of Jair Bolsonaro, and Beattie too<\/a>, in the wake of Brazil\u2019s 2022 election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of this exposes the delicate nature of current relations between the U.S. and Brazil, two politically polarized countries with recent histories of democratic backsliding whose right-wing populist movements are closely intertwined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If Lula comes to Washington as planned, he is likely to have much to discuss with Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anthony W. Pereira<\/a>, Executive Director of the Stone Center for Latin American Studies, Tulane University<\/a><\/em>; King’s College London<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anthony W. Pereira, Tulane University; King’s College London Darren Beattie, the recently appointed U.S. State Department senior adviser for Brazil policy, had planned to attend a forum on critical minerals in S\u00e3o Paulo in mid-March. But his visa was denied. The reason had nothing to do with U.S. policy on critical minerals. Rather, Beattie reportedly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":42170,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[46,295,296,36,4,38],"tags":[17607,804,16059,479,474,17604,5674,17603,885,891,886,860,17605,520,17606],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42169"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/56"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42169"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42171,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42169\/revisions\/42171"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}