Trump Meets Brazil Candidate Flávio Bolsonaro at White House

Flavio Bolsonaro, Brazilian presidential candidate, speaks during a campaign launch for Guilherme Derrite, pre-candidate for Senate in Sao Paulo, in Campinas, Sao Paulo state, Brazil, on Friday, May 15, Leaked audio messages linking Flavio Bolsonaro to the man at the center of a multibillion-dollar bank fraud scandal are threatening to torpedo the right-wing senator's campaign before it even gets started. Photo by Victor Moriyama /Bloomberg

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(Bloomberg) — President Donald Trump met Tuesday with Flávio Bolsonaro, the top challenger to leftist incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Brazil’s looming presidential election. 

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Bolsonaro, the eldest son of former Brazilian leader and close Trump ally Jair Bolsonaro, posted a picture on social media alongside the US president in the Oval Office. He provided no details about the encounter but is scheduled to speak to the press later Tuesday. 

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The meeting comes just weeks after Trump and Lula met to continue repairing ties that frayed last year amid clashes over trade, foreign policy and the fate of Jair Bolsonaro, who was convicted of plotting a coup after his 2022 election defeat.

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The younger Bolsonaro’s visit to Washington occurred at a crucial time for his campaign, as the right-wing senator attempts to shift attention away from a scandal that is threatening to derail his presidential bid.

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Earlier this month, the Intercept Brasil published messages showing him asking former Banco Master SA chief executive Daniel Vorcaro for money. Vorcaro is at the center of a multibillion-real scandal that has swept up prominent figures in Brazil’s political establishment.

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Bolsonaro said the funds were intended to finance a film about his father, who was sentenced last year to 27 years in prison. But the revelations have become a potential vulnerability for his campaign, helping Lula reestablish a lead in polls ahead of the October election.

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Questions about what role, if any, Trump will play in the race have loomed over its early stages, given the US leader’s close ties to the Bolsonaros and his overtly political approach to many foreign elections. 

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Last year, Trump slapped tariffs on Brazilian goods in an unsuccessful bid to thwart Jair Bolsonaro’s trial. The pressure campaign resulted in part from lobbying by Eduardo Bolsonaro, Flávio’s brother who’d moved to the US to seek Trump’s help.

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That push backfired, after Lula painted it as an attack on Brazilian sovereignty, an argument that resonated with voters and boosted his approval ratings. 

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The leftist leader has since repaired relations with Trump, saying after their most recent encounter that he was optimistic they would reach a broader deal on trade issues that have sparked disagreements between them.

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But he has at times returned to the sovereignty argument ahead of the elections, sharply criticizing Trump’s foreign policy interventionism in Venezuela and other nations. 

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“After Trump said Greenland is his, after he said Canada is his, after he said the Panama Canal is his, who’s to say he won’t claim the Amazon is his too?” Lula said in a speech last week. “We’re going to have to take responsibility for protecting this country. Because if we don’t, sooner or later some lunatic will come along and try to take it.”

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Lula has used the relationship with Trump to draw a contrast with the Bolsonaros, whom he has portrayed as excessively deferential to the White House in shaping relations between Brasilia and Washington.

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