The Lula-Trump meh meeting: Three hours, lunch, and a working group

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva met with President Donald Trump for nearly three hours on May 7. On paper it was the most substantive US-Brazil engagement in years. Yet there was no joint statement after the session, no tariff rollback, no memorandum on critical minerals, no security framework, and no mention of organized crime. The session served the political purposes for both leaders, however—especially Lula, who can now tell Brazilians that he has at least temporarily stabilized relations with the United States. The headline deliverable of the session was hardly a showstopper: A…

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva met with President Donald Trump for nearly three hours on May 7. On paper it was the most substantive US-Brazil engagement in years. Yet there was no joint statement after the session, no tariff rollback, no memorandum on critical minerals, no security framework, and no mention of organized crime.…

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva met with President Donald Trump for nearly three hours on May 7. On paper it was the most substantive US-Brazil engagement in years. Yet there was no joint statement after the session, no tariff rollback, no memorandum on critical minerals, no security framework, and no mention of organized crime. The session served the political purposes for both leaders, however—especially Lula, who can now tell Brazilians that he has at least temporarily stabilized relations with the United States. The headline…