Trump to meet Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro at White House

SERGIO LIMA/AFP/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump and “the Trump of the Tropics,” Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, will meet face to face at the White House on Tuesday.

Bolsonaro — a nationalist, Twitter-loving, “fake-news” decrying politician — chose to make the first bilateral trip of his presidency to Washington, where he has found an important friend and ally in Trump.

As part of a three-day visit in Washington, Bolsonaro will have a private meeting and press conference with Trump at the White House aimed at strengthening economic ties and positioning Brazil as an allied front in the Western Hemisphere.

In a statement ahead of the visit, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said the two leaders will discuss “opportunities for defense cooperation, pro-growth trade policies, combatting transnational crime and restoring democracy in Venezuela.”

A senior administration official, who requested anonymity, told reporters Bolsonaro’s visit represented a “real opportunity to fundamentally remake our relationship with Brazil.”

“The U.S.-Brazil relationship has always been one of potential, but yet that potential has not always been met,” the senior administration official said. “This time it is different. This is a historic remaking of the U.S.-Brazil relationship where there is truly going to be a North-South axis of the two largest economies in the Western Hemisphere and a true partnership of the largest economies.”

Bolsonaro, who was accompanied on his trip to the United States by his son, lawmaker Eduardo Bolsonaro, visited CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, on Monday and addressed the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Brazil is the second-largest economy in the Western Hemisphere, and the United States is Brazil’s second-largest trading partner after China.

“For the first time in a while, a pro-America Brazilian president arrives in D.C.,” Bolsonaro tweeted upon arriving in Washington. “It’s the beginning of a partnership focused on liberty and prosperity, something that all of us Brazilians have long wished for.”

Like Trump, Bolsonaro is a right-wing populist with a penchant for rocking the status quo and using Twitter to blast his message around the globe. Trump was one of the first world leaders to call and congratulate Bolsonaro after his landslide victory in October. Similar to Trump’s election, Bolsonaro’s win stunned the world and was part a wave of nationalist, right-wing leaders elected in Latin America.

“His election, he broke all of the historic taboos of winning an election in Latin America. He was unabashedly, particularly in Brazil, pro America,” a senior administration official said of Bolsonaro. “He ran on a campaign that he wanted to be the best friend of the United States that he wanted to have this close relationship with President Trump, and what that would mean for Brazil, for the region, for the world, I think that was very important.”

The official said the president took note of Bolsonaro’s Trump-like rhetoric and social media presence, and called Bolsonaro to congratulate him within hours of his election.

U.S. officials hope the visit will not only boost their economic relationship but align efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to Venezuela.

Brazil shares a border with Venezuela and, like the United States, has joined with dozens of other world leaders in pressuring socialist Nicholas Maduro to turn over power to opposition leader Juan Guaido. But while Trump has said “every option is on the table” in Venezuela, suggesting the use of military force, Brazil has pushed for diplomatic talks to lead to a change in power.

A senior administration official said Brazil plays an important role as an “interlocutor” between the U.S. and Venezuela.

“Brazil has allowed the United States to preposition humanitarian aid for Venezuela on Brazil’s northern border and we are very grateful to that and we thank him for working tirelessly to provide aide to the Brazilian people and them opening their doors,” the official said. “There’s also an opportunity here where they can be very good interlocutors. The Brazilian Military has very good relationships with the Venezuelan military and clearly communicate with them as to what should be the role with the Venezuelan military in regards to civility and not repressing and not maintaining the usurpation of democracy Maduro seeks.”

The U.S. and Brazil hope to end the meetings with signed agreements, including an agreement that would allow the U.S. to launch satellites and rockets into space from Brazil.

“You will see — after the visit tomorrow, we will plan to announce a joint statement that will have a lot of deliverables, some which are currently, frankly, right now being signed and being finalized and being negotiated. And that’s all extraordinarily positive,” an official said Monday. “We think that we have, really, a historic opportunity to re-frame hemispheric relations with this North-South axis.”

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