PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Trump hosted President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil for a festive dinner at his Florida property on Saturday however refus
PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Trump hosted President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil for a festive dinner at his Florida property on Saturday however refused to rule out metal and iron tariffs which have created rigidity within the relationship between the 2 most populous international locations of the Western Hemisphere.
As he welcomed Mr. Bolsonaro to Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump hailed his Brazilian counterpart and celebrated their friendship. “Brazil loves him,” the president stated with Mr. Bolsonaro at his facet. “The united statesA. loves him. Nice job.”
Requested about tariffs, Mr. Trump initially ducked the query, saying solely, “The friendship might be stronger now than it’s ever been.” Pressed if he would forgo tariffs, he stated, “I don’t make any guarantees.”
Mr. Trump and Mr. Bolsonaro take pleasure in one of many closest relationships that the president has within the Western Hemisphere. A conservative advocate of immigration restrictions just like the American chief, Mr. Bolsonaro is usually referred to as the Trump of the Tropics and his son, Eduardo Bolsonaro, has made a degree of visiting Mar-a-Lago on his personal greater than as soon as to rub shoulders with high Trump administration officers and allies.
Eduardo Bolsonaro sat together with his father on the president’s desk on Saturday evening, joined by Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner on the opposite facet, together with Robert C. O’Brien, the nationwide safety adviser. The elder Mr. Bolsonaro made no feedback through the temporary intervals when reporters had been introduced in to file the scene.
An administration official stated earlier than the dinner that Mr. Trump would use the go to to extend worldwide assist for ousting President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela in favor of the opposition chief Juan Guaidó. The 2 would additionally focus on a commerce settlement and forest conservation, the official stated.
Mr. Bolsonaro is scheduled to go to the US Southern Command headquarters in Miami on Sunday after which head onto Washington, the place he’ll showcase agreements on vitality and infrastructure finance.
Mr. Trump threatened to impose metals tariffs on Brazil and Argentina in December in retaliation for what he referred to as their unfair weakening of their currencies and agricultural insurance policies. The president backed off the threat a few weeks later after Mr. Bolsonaro referred to as him to attraction to not proceed with the levies.