In insisting on an alternative dollar payment system, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s government (PT) has positioned Brazil on a collision with the United States and encouraged President Donald Trump’s comments that strengthen former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL), who is currently a defendant in the process of alleged coup.
In the final statement of the BRICS summit, on Sunday (6), the bloc criticized the additional 10% tariff from Trump to countries aligned with the group and defended the BRICS transfronty payments initiative, a payment modality that would be alternative to the American currency.
Commenting on the issue, Lula said Trump “threatened the world over the internet” and carried himself as a “emperor”. “I don’t think a very responsible and serious thing a president of the Republic of a country size like the US is threatening the world over the internet. It’s not right. He needs to know that the world has changed, we don’t want emperor,” the petista told journalists on Sunday.
Trump’s reaction came with Bolsonaro’s defense. This Monday (7), the Republican said that the Brazilian state makes a “persecution” against the former president, his family and his supporters. He also stated that he will follow the situation of “very close” and that the “only judgment that should be happening is a trial by Brazil’s voters.”
For political scientist Thales Castro, president of the Institute for Strategic Research in International Relations and Diplomacy (Iperid), the anti-American discourse adopted by Brazil with BRICS directly benefits the former president and his supporters.
“This anti -American position in fact favors [Bolsonaro]. I would say even more, widely, not so specifically the former president Bolsonaro, but [o grupo político] As a whole, because it is the counterpoint, ”explained Castro.
Shortly after Trump’s statement about Bolsonaro, Lula said he would not comment on it, as he has a “most important thing” to talk about. “This country has law, there is a rule and this country has an owner called Brazilian people. Therefore, give guess in his life and not ours,” the petista told a press conference during the Brics summit in Rio de Janeiro.
Already Bolsonaro thanked the president of the United States for his support. “This process to which I respond is a legal aberration, clear political persecution, already perceived by everyone in common sense,” wrote the former president on social networks. “I thank the illustrious president and friend. You have gone through something similar. It was relentlessly persecuted, but won for the good of the United States,” said the PL politician.
Lula approach with dictatorships causes anti -American positioning and isolates Brazil
The anti -American position of the Brazilian government has generated side effects on both the international and internal policy scenario. For political scientist Elton Gomes, a professor at the Federal University of Piauí (UFPI), this stance “removes Brazil from the United States-led liberal democracies bloc and brings it closer to the Bloco Sino-Russian [China e Rússia]the Block of Consortium Dictatorships ”.
According to him, Brics, a group of which Brazil is part, “ended up taking this conformation much more than anything else.” The block is made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.
Gomes also points to the structural fragility of BRICS, which, in his view, depends more and more on China. “Brics does not have a fundamental structure logic. It is not an international organization, it is a leader summit. It has no binding power.” He also points out that “the other member countries are experiencing difficult times,” citing the Russian War, Putin’s sanctions, and Iran’s instability after Israel and the US military actions.
In domestic politics, political scientist Juan Carlos Arruda, CEO of the ranking of politicians, sees in Lula’s anti -Americanism a wasted opportunity and a strategic error. “Lula’s anti -Americanism is not just a diplomatic error – it is a gift wrapped to the Brazilian right.” For him, by “preferring to fraternize with dictatorships and attacking liberal democracies,” the president ends up “pushing the moderate electorate straight into the arms of those who defend western values.”
Arruda concludes with a direct criticism of the current government’s worldview: “Lula pretends to live in the 70’s, but Brazil of 2026 will be defined by those who understand the world today – and who knows that values such as freedom, property and security still matter,” he says.
BRICS payment system does not face Swift
The final statement of the Ministers of Finance and Presidents of the BRICS Central Banks cites that there was progress in identifying possible ways for the interoperability of the payment systems of the bloc countries. That is, a system that aims to replace the dollar as a transaction currency between the members.
“We are responsible for our finance ministers and central banks governors, as appropriate, to continue the discussion about the BRICS transionic payment initiative, and recognize the progress made by the BRICS (BPTF) task force in identifying possible ways to support discussions about the potential for greater interoperability between BRICS payment systems,” document.
Although not detailing the advances in the payment system in local currencies, the document cites efforts such as the “BRICS Transfronting Payment System” report, prepared by the Central Bank of Brazil. The document lists the preferences of the bloc countries to facilitate “rapid, low -cost, more affordable, efficient, transparent and safe transpiring transponeries.
The initiative aims to replace SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication), the world’s leading bank communication system. When a bank needs to send money to another bank in a different country, it uses the SWIFT system to send a safe and standardized message with payment instructions. The bloc’s speech gained traction when Russia was taken from Swift in 2022 after the invasion of Ukraine.
Thales Castro warns of diplomatic risks to bet on alternative financial systems to the western model. It recalls the context of Russia’s exclusion from Swift, after the invasion of Ukraine, and when China presented CIPs as an alternative. However, according to him, the range of the Chinese system is quite limited. “The CIPs system is effectively very residual, it is very restricted and does not have the reach that the SWIFT system has, had and will continue to have for the coming years.”
Castro points out that Swift, created in the 1970s and headquartered in Belgium, remains the global standard for financial transactions. “Swift is widely accepted,” he says. For him, the attempt to move away from this dominant system can generate significant diplomatic costs for Brazil, especially when aligning with countries that seek alternatives outside the axis of liberal democracies.
Trump’s support to Bolsonaro mobilizes opposition
Donald Trump’s publication in defense of Jair Bolsonaro was celebrated by Brazilian opposition leaders. The demonstration was seen as a symbolic gesture of international support and a reinforcement of the position that the former president is the subject of political persecution.
Licensed deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro (PL) stated that Trump’s speech will not be the only news from the US. “A lot of people call me, but we can’t give it more details about it. What I can say is that this will not be the only news from the US at this time,” he said. Currently, the parliamentarian is exiled in the United States.
The governor of Sao Paulo, Tarcisio de Freitas, was straightforward: “With the word, President Donald Trump. Jair Bolsonaro must be tried only by the Brazilian people during the elections. Force, President!”
In the House, the PL leader, Deputy Sostenes Cavalcante (RJ), announced that he will defend a motion of support to Trump for Bolsonaro’s defense. “Today, we are protocoling an official motion to support President Trump, in the name of truth, democracy and the alliance between conservatives who do not bow to the system,” he said. For him, “Trump not only defended Bolsonaro. He defended the law of the Brazilian people to choose his leaders – at the polls, not in aroused courts.”
Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ) also thanked the US president for his support for Jair Bolsonaro. “Thank you, President Donald Trump. Always in defense of democracy and freedom of expression!” He said. According to him, “this is not justice, it is a real hunting to witches against those who dared to face the system and rule for the people.”
Deputy Filipe Barros (PL-PR) said Trump’s speech “wide the four corners of the planet the unprecedented injustices being executed in Brazil against Jair Bolsonaro.” He also highlighted the role of Eduardo Bolsonaro in the international articulation. “Thanks to the intense work of Eduardo Bolsonaro, Trump also reverberates to the world that, in 26, an election without Bolsonaro is the consummation of the attack today against the democracy of the country.”
Deputy Carol de Toni (PL-SC) summed up the feeling of the opposition: “More than a warning: it is the international recognition that there is something deeply wrong happening here,” he said.
