Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said that US President Donald Trump has the right to have an electoral preference in Brazil, but warned his US counterpart to “stay out” of this year’s elections.
Lula, who intends to run for re-election in October’s vote, made the comments on Wednesday shortly after Trump told reporters that Brazil has become a “little rough” and “dangerous politically.”
“They play pretty tough, but nobody plays tougher than the United States,” Trump said.
The jabs were the latest back-and-forth in the up-and-down relationship between the two leaders, who were both in Switzerland on Wednesday for the last day of the G7 summit.
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Lula’s main challenger in polls is Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, son of Trump ally and Brazil’s ex-President Jair Bolsonaro, who is living under house arrest after he was convicted last year of plotting a coup after the 2022 election.
