Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke over phone to discuss the role of the BRICS group of nations and opportunities for bilateral cooperation, according to statements from Lula’s office and Chinese state media.
The call comes as Lula seeks to rally BRICS partners in response to recent U.S. tariffs. China expressed its readiness to collaborate with Brazil in demonstrating unity and resilience across the Global South.
The leaders spoke for an hour on Monday, agreeing on the role of the G20 and BRICS in defending multilateralism,” Brazil’s presidency said in a statement.
“Both presidents also highlighted their willingness to continue identifying new business opportunities between the two economies,” the statement said.
Trump’s Tariffs
Lula said last week he would initiate a conversation about how to tackle Trump’s tariffs with BRICS nations, after Trump dubbed the group “anti-American” and threatened them with additional tariffs.
Xi called BRICS a key platform for building consensus in the Global South and said China is ready to work with Brazil to set an example of unity and self-reliance among major Global South nations, Chinese state media Xinhua reported.
Agricultural trade figured prominently in China and Brazil’s relations, with Brazil’s soybean and coffee sectors highlighted for their growing engagement with Chinese markets amid rising Western tariffs
China, the world’s biggest soybean importer, gets most of the commodity from Brazil and recently, numerous Brazilian coffee companies found entry into the Chinese market after the industry was hit by steep U.S. tariffs.
China last week also showed Brazil support in resisting the “bullying behaviour” of imposing excessive tariffs, without naming the U.S.
Xi described ties between the two countries as “at their best in history”, and said both should work together to address global challenges and promote the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis, Xinhua said.
(With inputs from Reuters)
