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The President of the United States, Donald Trump, announced this Saturday that he plans to meet "very soon" with his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, while describing the preventive arrest of former President Jair Bolsonaro as "very bad."
“I spoke last night with the person you referred to, and I believe we will meet in the near future,” he responded to reporters outside the White House after being asked about Lula, reported the EFE agency.
Regarding Bolsonaro —a political ally of the U.S. president— Trump initially stated that he was unaware of the arrest, but after being informed by reporters, he remarked that it seemed "very bad" to him.
Bolsonaro, sentenced in September to 27 years in prison for attempting a coup, was preventively arrested this Saturday, as it was deemed that there was a "concrete" risk of flight and a "threat to public order" just before he was set to begin serving his sentence.
The former leader's legal situation is also situated within the context of the commercial tensions between Washington and Brazil.
In April, Trump imposed a 10% tariff on Brazilian exports, which he later increased by an additional 40% as retaliation for the trial against Bolsonaro.
However, last Thursday the White House announced an executive order that lifted the additional 40% tariff on products such as beef, vegetables, coffee, cocoa, and aerospace components.
The shift in trade policy comes after a cordial meeting between Trump and Lula in Malaysia at the end of October and amidst growing internal concerns about inflation in the United States, which has been exacerbated by tariffs and the rising cost of living.
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