If you haven't picked up on this already, I'd like to point out that Latin American dictators and commies HATE our dear Secretary of State Marco Rubio. He's their worst nightmare — someone who understands the region and exactly what they're doing to hold the people back.
The Cubans love to say he's never even set foot on the island so he isn't a real Cuban and has created a web of lies about them. Former Colombian president (oh, how sweet it is to say "former") Gustavo Petro fairly recently claimed that Rubio had a plan to jail him. That may or may not be true. Back in August or September of last year, Nicolás Maduro sent several public messages to Donald Trump, telling him that Rubio would leave him with blood on his hands and drag him into unnecessary wars.
On Friday, Brazil's Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took his turn. He called Rubio a "bolsonarista" (supporter of former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro and Lula's arch enemy), "anti-Latin American," and a "frustrated Latin American." He claimed Rubio hates Brazil, Cuba, and Colombia because he’s a Cuban-American from Miami, and he blamed him for the whole tariff debacle between the United States and Brazil. Like Maduro, Lula claimed he has all the respect in the world for Trump, but it's Rubio who is the problem.
For what it's worth, in mid-July, Rubio posted on X that Lula and his government had not "negotiated with the U.S. in good faith," adding, "His economic policies are bad for Americans and bad for Brazilians. For the past year, Lula has put his own ego ahead of making a deal for the welfare of the Brazilian people, and these tariffs are the price for that."
Today, President Trump directed USTR to impose a 25% tariff on most Brazilian imports. Let there be no confusion about why: President Lula and his government have not negotiated with the US in good faith.
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) July 16, 2026
His economic policies are bad for Americans and bad for Brazilians. For…
Just a little background in case you missed it: The Trump administration conducted a year-long Section 301 investigation against Brazil, which started last July, and found that it gave better tariff deals to countries like Mexico and India, doesn't protect U.S. intellectual property, and makes things difficult for U.S. digital payment companies to compete, among other things. In the midst of the investigation, there was a lot of back and forth between the two administrations about tariffs, deforestation, the Iran conflict, etc.
So, as mentioned above in Rubio's X post, Trump imposed at 25% tariff on most Brazilian imports into the U.S., making exceptions for beef, coffee, and a few other products. That's what's got Lula all upset right now. He claims he handed over documents proving the findings untrue to Trump and thought everything was fine, but he seems to think Rubio intervened and ruined the deal.
And the friction between our two countries doesn't end with tariffs. In early August, the U.S. revoked the visa of Brazil’s ambassador to Washington, D.C., Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, after Brasília delayed approval of Trump’s nominee for ambassador to Brazil — Florida state Representative and Rubio ally Daniel Perez — and denied visas to two American diplomats.
But tariffs aren't the only reason Lula is upset. The 80-year-old is up for reelection in October, and we've watched some other major players in Latin America and the Caribbean turn to the right over the last couple of years — Colombia being the most recent. Brazil is one of the biggest holdouts, and most of the other governments in the region would love to see it change too, including ours.
Related: Well, the New U.S.-Colombia Relationship Escalated Quickly. It's Officially FAFO Season.
Lula's main opposition is Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, Jair's son, and while Lula polls better, the gap has narrowed from what it was even seven or eight months ago. Lula's government isn't particularly popular, though, and I know several businesses have fled the country over the last year. It's a tight race, but the younger Bolsonaro has been visiting Washington and has formed friendships with other regional leaders like Javier Milei. Lula's pulling the whole "foreign interference" card, and I'm sure he'll blame Rubio for that as well.
Earlier this year, I pointed out that four Latin American countries had big presidential elections this year, and it'd be nice to see them all make a rightward swing. Costa Rica already had a center-right president, and it elected continuity. It was messy, but Peru did the right thing. And Colombia, which was the biggest win, just inaugurated Trump ally Abelardo de la Espriella after four years of attempting socialism. Brazil is the last one on the chopping block, but it will be the toughest to crack. Lula and his corrupt government and judicial thugs will not go down quietly, and it's time for us to start tracking what happens in these last couple of months leading up to the elections. All eyes are on Brazil now.
Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump and his administration’s bold leadership, we are respected on the world stage, and our enemies are being put on notice.
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