The government of the socialist dictator Lula da Silva made the unusual decision to reject and return the letter sent by the president of the United States, Donald Trump, in which he notified the imposition of a 50% tariff on Brazilian imports.
According to official sources cited by the EFE agency, the document was described as "offensive" and containing "falsehoods" about the relationship between both countries, excuses that, to no one's surprise, are also false.
In his letter, the American president explained that the reason for imposing tariffs on Brazil, in addition to trade inequality, is the political persecution against former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, the attacks on freedom of expression, and the authoritarianism of Lula's government.
This Wednesday, the chargé d'affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Brasília, Gabriel Escobar, was summoned for the second time to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The meeting was led by the Secretary for North America, Maria Luisa Escorel.
According to reports, Escorel requested confirmation of the authenticity of the letter signed by Trump and, once verified, informed the diplomat that the Brazilian executive rejected its content and proceeded to return it. "The letter was returned for being offensive and containing falsehoods about Brazil and factual errors about the bilateral trade relationship," the sources detailed.
What Trump's letter said
The document, which Trump publicly released before the dictator Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva formally received it, argued that the tariff decision was in response to what he described as a "witch hunt" against former president Jair Bolsonaro, in the context of political persecution in Brazil.
