It worked out!

It can't be easy being a Bolsonaro supporter these days. Eduardo Bolsonaro's supporters woke up to some terrible news. After being practically kicked out of the State Department when they tried to sabotage the normalization of trade relations between Brazil and the United States, they will have to explain yet another setback.

They spent the last few weeks promising their followers that Donald Trump would launch a"coup" by appointing Marco Rubio as his interlocutor. No coup took place. Marco Rubio met amicably with Mauro Vieira, our Minister of Foreign Affairs. Then they said Trump would try to humiliate Lula in public. That didn't happen either.

On Sunday, October 26, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva met with Donald Trump in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, during the 47th ASEAN summit. The meeting, which lasted approximately 50 minutes, was the first between the two since a brief conversation at the UN General Assembly in September. It occurred in the wake of the imposition of 50% tariffs on Brazilian products and sanctions against Brazilian officials due to the trial of former President Jair Bolsonaro.

At Lula's side were Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira, and on the American side, Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The meeting was marked by a friendly tone that belied all the Bolsonaro supporters' catastrophic predictions of a possible humiliation or diplomatic"coup."

During the meeting, the Brazilian president got straight to the point. He stated that there is no reason for disagreements between Brazil and the United States and asked Trump to immediately suspend the tariff hike while the two countries are in agreement."Brazil is interested in having an extraordinary relationship with the United States. There is no reason for there to be any disagreement, because when two presidents sit at a table, each presents their point of view, and the natural tendency is to move toward an agreement," Lula stated.

According to a member of the Brazilian delegation, the president also told Trump that the former president's trial followed due process and that the sanctions against Supreme Court officials were unfair. Lula reiterated his desire for a stable and productive relationship between the two countries, making it clear that he had a broad agenda to discuss.

The US president signaled openness to a deal. He said it was an honor to be with the Brazilian leader and that they would likely make"some good deals." "We'll discuss [tariffs] a little bit. We know we know each other. We know what each other wants," Trump said. When asked about Jair Bolsonaro, the US president said he"feels bad" for what the former president went through, but did not respond to whether the matter would be discussed.

More significant was Trump's declaration of admiration for Lula's political trajectory. According to Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira, Trump acknowledged that Lula"had already served twice as president of the Republic, had been persecuted in Brazil, recovered, proven his innocence, returned to the bench, and victoriously won a third term"—a compliment that completely refutes the Bolsonaro narrative of confrontation.

After the meeting, Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira confirmed the success."The conversation was very positive, and the final outcome is excellent. President Trump stated that he will instruct his team to begin a bilateral negotiation process, which should begin today, as everything is expected to be resolved quickly," Vieira noted. Trump authorized his team to begin negotiations to review the tariff hike on Sunday evening, Malaysian time.

The Brazilian government expects the tariffs to be suspended during the bilateral negotiations. According to Vieira,"we hope to soon conclude an agreement that addresses each of the sectors of current US taxation on Brazil."

The Brazilian president also took advantage of the meeting to propose himself as an intermediary between the US and Venezuela, reaffirming Brazil's tradition as an agent of peace in the region."President Lula said that South America is a region of peace and offered to be an intermediary with Venezuela, seeking mutually acceptable solutions between the two countries," the foreign minister said."Brazil will always be willing to act as an agent of peace and understanding, which has always been Brazil's tradition," he added.

The two presidents arranged reciprocal visits: Trump expressed a desire to come to Brazil, and Lula happily agreed to go to the United States. Trump also stated that he admires Brazil and has a deep love for the Brazilian people.

We can say that the"tariff hike" was yet another political shift in which Bolsonaro supporters attempted to overturn the election results. It resulted in a resounding defeat for the Brazilian far right. Perhaps this was the most profound and lasting defeat.

President Lula's strategy of not bowing to the empire, of offering firm but peaceful resistance, without commercial retaliation but with harsh and fearless rhetorical protests, worked. The massive diplomatic and extradiplomatic mobilization, bringing together the most senior professionals from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and major business leaders from Brazil and the United States, worked. The brilliant calculation of choosing the most favorable terrain for Lula, without a live press conference to avoid pitfalls, with the presidents seated at a reasonable distance, worked.

The president showed no fear. He maintained a direct and, at times, harsh stance, defending what he considers to be the obligation of a Latin American head of state: criticizing the murder of ship crews without trial or transparency, criticizing the tariff hike, and defending national sovereignty. And he managed, through diplomatic intelligence, to transform a very complicated confrontational situation into an opportunity for openness to bilateral understanding.

Brazil did not surrender. Diplomacy prevailed. Tarcísio de Freitas and the entire Brazilian far-right emerged defeated in this process. Tarcísio, in particular, revealed a lack of the moral fiber necessary to lead a country like Brazil. During the height of the tariff uprising, he publicly suggested that Lula should humble himself before the international press in the Oval Office, offering a victory to Trump—as if the Brazilian president should pose as Zelensky. While Lula negotiated intelligently and firmly, Tarcísio remained on the sidelines, unable to understand that giving in to the empire is not pragmatism, it is capitulation.