Lula faces a tricky balancing act. Now that relations between China and the United States are more tense it may be harder for him to please both countries
Save time by listening to our audio articles as you multitaskLula has said he wants to discuss, and presumably cement, Brazil’s role “in the new geopolitics” with Mr Biden. But ensuring Brazil’s place in the global order will be a trickier diplomatic feat than it was during his previous two terms as president, from 2003 to 2010.
For a start Lula needs to smooth relations in the wake of Jair Bolsonaro, his right-wing populist predecessor. Mr Bolsonaro, who was a fan of Donald Trump, did not destroy Brazil’s relationship with the United States, but it became somewhat strained under the Biden administration. He was one of the last world leaders to acknowledge Mr Biden’s victory in 2020, along with Vladimir Putin and Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Mexico’s president.
Lula also faces a tricky balancing act. Brazilian diplomacy is typically neutral. Governments of both the left and the right have tried to stay out of big disputes. During his first two terms Lula tried to expand Brazil’s global influence while remaining in America’s good books., a bloc of emerging economies. He opened 35 new embassies, mostly in Africa and Latin America. Even so, Lula had close relationships with presidents such as George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
Now that relations between China and the United States are more tense it may be harder for Lula to please both countries. In November Mr Biden announced that theInternational Development Finance Corporation would invest $30m in TechMet, a mining company, to process cobalt and nickel in Brazil. This is an attempt to act as a counterweight to Chinese investors.
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