In hour-long phone call, Brazil’s Prez Lula and PM Modi discuss US’ 50% tariffs

NEW new delhi: brasil’s chairwoman Luiz Inácio Lula da sylva dialled ground Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday to discuss the fallout of US President Donald Trump imposing 50% tariffs on both countries, and the two leaders pledged to deepen bilateral cooperation in areas ranging from trade and energy to defence and technology.US tariffs on India and Brazil jumped to 50% on Wednesday, among the highest imposed by Trump, who tied new levies on Brazil to his demand for ending the prosecution of right-wing former president Jair Bolsonaro, and imposed an additional penalty on India for its purchases of Russian oil.Modi said on social media that he had a “good conversation” with Lula, whom he met on the margins of the Brics Summit in Rio de Janeiro last month. “We are committed to deepening our Strategic Partnership including in trade, energy, tech, defence, health and more. A strong, people-centric partnership between Global South nations benefits everyone,” he said.A readout from the Indian side said Lula initiated the phone call, and Modi recalled that the two leaders had agreed at their recent meeting on a framework to strengthen cooperation in key sectors such as trade, defence, agriculture and people-to-people ties.“Building on these discussions, they reiterated their commitment to take the India-Brazil Strategic Partnership to new heights,” the readout said. The two leaders also discussed various regional and global issues.Lula said in a lengthy social media post that the hour-long phone conversation focused on the international economic scenario and the “imposition of unilateral tariffs”. He added, “Brazil and India are, so far, the two most affected countries. We reaffirmed the importance of defending multilateralism and the need to address the challenges of the current situation, as well as to explore possibilities for greater integration between the two countries.”In this context, Lula confirmed he would make a state visit to India early next year. Brazil’s vice-president, Geraldo Alckmin will travel to India in October as part of preparations for the visit and to participate in a meeting of a trade monitoring mechanism. Alckmin’s delegation will include Brazilian ministers and businesspeople to discuss cooperation in trade, defence, energy, critical minerals, health, and digital inclusion, he said.Lula said he and Modi also discussed the goal of increasing India-Brazil trade to more than $20 billion by 2030. “To this end, we agreed to expand the scope of the agreement between MERCOSUR and India. We exchanged information about the virtual payment platforms of our two countries, [Brazil’s] PIX and India’s UPI,” he said.The two sides also spoke about working together for the transition of the Brics presidency from Brazil to India, he said.On Tuesday, Lula turned down Trump’s offer to call him to discuss the issue of tariffs and said Brazil will resort to all possible measures to protect its interests, including approaching the WTO and taking action to strengthen foreign trade. He added, “I will call [Chinese President] Xi Jinping, I will call Prime Minister Modi…I will call many presidents.”Lula also told Reuters on Wednesday that he saw no room for talks with Trump as he didn’t wish to be humiliated. However, Brazil will not announce reciprocal tariffs and will continue official talks with the US, he said. “The day my intuition says Trump is ready to talk, I won’t hesitate to call him,” he said. “But today my intuition says he doesn’t want to talk. And I won’t humiliate myself.”Like Brazil, India too hasn’t announced reciprocal tariffs. However, the external affairs ministry on Wednesday described the additional 25% tariff imposed by Trump as “unjustified and unreasonable” and said India will take “all actions necessary to protect its national interests”.