Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and U.S. President Donald Trump, two leaders who have rarely seen eye to eye, shared a moment of unexpected warmth at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 24, 2025. Their brief embrace and friendly exchange, witnessed backstage before their respective speeches, have sent ripples through diplomatic circles and opened the possibility of a thaw in what many consider the coldest period in U.S.-Brazil relations in the last two centuries.
The encounter came on the heels of months of tension, largely fueled by Trump’s decision in July 2025 to slap a 50% tariff on many Brazilian exports. The U.S. president justified the move by citing alleged persecution against former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who was recently sentenced to 27 years in prison for his efforts to override the results of the 2022 presidential election. According to AP News, Lula’s government has viewed these tariffs as both a diplomatic affront and an economic blow, while Trump’s administration has maintained that they are a necessary response to what it sees as political repression in Brazil.
Yet, the mood shifted dramatically in New York. After Lula’s impassioned address to the General Assembly—where he warned that “both multilateralism and democracy were under severe strain, threatened by authoritarianism and the erosion of international law”—the Brazilian president left the dais, only to run into Trump backstage. The two leaders hugged and exchanged a few words. Trump later remarked, “He seemed like a very nice man, actually. He liked me, I liked him,” according to AP News. He even noted during his speech that they enjoyed “excellent chemistry” and hinted at a follow-up meeting the following week.
This moment was not lost on observers back home. Lula’s allies celebrated the encounter, seeing it as a diplomatic coup and a potential opening for renewed negotiations on trade and broader U.S.-Brazil relations. Former Brazilian Foreign Minister Aloysio Nunes, a center-right politician often critical of Lula, told AP News that the personal contact between the two presidents is “very positive” and could “kick off preparations for a real negotiation between them.”
For Lula, the United Nations has long been a favored stage. As Foreign Policy points out, he is a seasoned advocate for multilateral governance, having led Brazil from 2003 to 2011 and again since 2023. In his speech, he positioned Brazil as a beacon of democratic resilience and reiterated his call for major U.N. reforms to give the global south a greater voice in international affairs—a stance that earned him applause in the hall. “There is a clear parallel between the crisis of multilateralism and the weakening of democracy,” Lula declared, casting Brazil as a nation that could help bridge the gap between developed and developing countries.
Trump, who spoke after Lula as tradition dictates at the UNGA, struck a sharply different note. He lambasted the U.N. as a “globalist” failure and dismissed climate action as “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world.” His speech, described by Foreign Policy as meandering, diverged dramatically from Lula’s focus on cooperation and reform. Yet, the two leaders found common ground in their skepticism of the U.N.’s current effectiveness—even if for vastly different reasons.
The brief camaraderie between Lula and Trump was met with mixed reactions across the Brazilian political spectrum. Bolsonaro’s supporters, who had previously celebrated Trump’s hardline stance—including the revocation of visas for Brazilian officials and sanctions against members of Brazil’s Supreme Court—were unusually quiet or sought to downplay the significance of the encounter. Journalist Paulo Figueiredo, a prominent Bolsonaro ally, characterized Trump’s friendliness as a “genius” move to put Lula in a difficult negotiating position, while Bolsonaro’s son Eduardo, now based in the U.S., echoed the idea that Trump’s approach was deliberate brinkmanship.
But the reality on the ground suggests that the tariffs and diplomatic chill have not produced the desired effect for Bolsonaro’s camp. Since the July 2025 imposition of tariffs, Lula’s poll numbers have climbed, buoyed by his nationalistic rhetoric and defense of Brazilian sovereignty. According to AP News, even moderate politicians who were previously critical of Lula have begun to rally behind him, seeing the potential for a reset in U.S.-Brazil ties as a win for the country.
Sao Paulo Governor Tarcisio de Freitas, once a vocal critic of Lula’s approach to the U.S., signaled a shift in tone following the New York meeting. “(Trump) needs to negotiate, Lula needs to negotiate,” de Freitas told journalists on September 25, 2025. “This situation is bad for Brazil and bad for the U.S. too. At some point there needs to be a convergence.”
The broader context of Lula’s foreign policy cannot be ignored. As Foreign Policy details, Lula has used his second presidency to champion the interests of the global south, hosting summits of Amazonian nations, launching initiatives to combat hunger, and calling for diplomatic efforts to mediate conflicts from Ukraine to Gaza. He has also embraced BRICS—a coalition including Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—as a platform to push for a more equitable world order. Lula’s chief foreign-policy advisor, Celso Amorim, noted in July that Trump’s sanctions and tariffs had only deepened Brazil’s ties within BRICS, further complicating the geopolitical landscape.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration’s approach to the U.N. has been marked by skepticism and retrenchment. According to Foreign Policy, U.S. funding cuts have forced the organization to scale back humanitarian aid and peacekeeping missions, weakening the very institutions that were designed to foster international cooperation. This has created more space for alternative coalitions like BRICS to assert themselves on the world stage.
Yet, amid bureaucratic obstacles and political posturing, the United Nations remains a rare forum where leaders can connect directly—and sometimes unexpectedly. Lula himself acknowledged the significance of the moment, telling reporters, “That which seemed impossible has ceased to be impossible,” and emphasizing the importance of mutual respect in dealings between world leaders.
For now, the brief but friendly exchange between Lula and Trump has injected a measure of optimism into a relationship long defined by suspicion and rivalry. Whether this opening leads to substantive change remains to be seen, but as the events at the U.N. demonstrated, even the smallest gestures can carry outsized significance in the world of diplomacy.
