The Brazilian President pitches for UN seats for India and Brazil and speaks of lessons learned from India in 2005. He says he was “touched” by musical gesture by government at the end of visit.
Instead of negotiating with the U.S. on tariffs separately, countries should form “negotiating blocs”, said Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in New Delhi on Sunday (February 22, 2026), advocating for “unionisation” of those suffering from the tariffs. Mr. Lula, himself a trade union leader in the 1980s before he founded Brazil’s ruling “Workers Party”, said that while he did not wish to comment on the internal workings of the U.S. where the Supreme Court struck down the tariffs imposed globally by U.S. President Donald Trump last year, he hoped that all countries would be “treated equally” by the U.S. on the issue.
“I want to tell the U.S. President that we don’t want a new Cold War. We don’t want interference in any other country, we want all countries to be treated equally,” Mr. Lula said, answering questions from journalists at the end of his four-day visit to Delhi, where he attended the AI Impact Summit and held bilateral talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Brazil and India were the two highest tariffed countries by the U.S., slapped with 50% duties on exports each, and face tariff threats from Mr. Trump over their membership of the BRICS grouping, trade with Iran, and imports of Russian oil. Neither country has thus far concluded a trade deal with the U.S. Mr. Lula, who is expected to visit Washington next month, said he hopes to put all outstanding issues with the U.S. “on the table” for Mr. Trump.
“When a small country negotiates with a bigger country, the agreement will always be harmful for the smaller country. This is the experience that I bring from the trade union and labour movement. To negotiate with the employer, all workers must get together and confront the company policy. If they do it individually, they all lose,” he said, likening international trade to his trade union negotiations, adding that countries in the Global South, including India and Brazil, as well as others must “act together” in negotiating with global superpowers.
‘Call for reforms in UNSC’
Mr. Lula also called for UN Security Council reforms, and in particular, seats in the Council for India and Brazil amongst others.
“Why is India not a permanent member of the UN Security Council, a country that has 1.4 billion people? Why Brazil is not there at the UN Security Council,” he said, adding others such as Germany, Mexico, Nigeria and Egypt as well to the list. He said that as a result, the UN today does not have much efficacy. “UN is capable of making a diagnosis but it doesn’t have the capability to prescribe medication or do the treatment,” he added.
He told journalists that India had taught him some lessons in economic management, recounting a story from his visit to India in 2005, during his previous tenure as President, when he was hosted by then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
“It was in India in 2005 that, for the very first time, I perceived the importance of having international hard currency reserves,” he said, adding that he was impressed that India had then amassed $100 billion in reserves. He said he committed to do the same in Brazil, eventually building reserves of $360 billion and Brazil moved from being a debtor to the IMF to a creditor, which he called was a “transformative experience” for Brazil.
Mr. Lula recounted some personal memories as well, while speaking about his talks in Delhi, which ended with agreements on critical mineral cooperation, steel mining and digital partnership. He said that he was touched that, during the official banquet lunch with PM Modi and the state dinner hosted by President Droupadi Murmu, the band played his favourite Brazilian songs, including the popular “Asa Branca”, just as he said he had played PM Modi’s favourite song during his visit to Brazil last year.
“I did not imagine that they could have remembered the reception we gave him and decided to offer me a gift in return,” Mr. Lula said.
Time for countries facing U.S. tariffs to unionise, negotiate together: Lula Da Silva
The Brazilian President pitches for UN seats for India and Brazil and speaks of lessons learned from India in 2005. He says he was “touched” by musical gesture by government at the end of visit.
Instead of negotiating with the U.S. on tariffs separately, countries should form “negotiating blocs”, said Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in New Delhi on Sunday (February 22, 2026), advocating for “unionisation” of those suffering from the tariffs. Mr. Lula, himself a trade union leader in the 1980s before he founded Brazil’s ruling “Workers Party”, said that while he did not wish to comment on the internal workings of the U.S. where the Supreme Court struck down the tariffs imposed globally by U.S. President Donald Trump last year, he hoped that all countries would be “treated equally” by the U.S. on the issue.
“I want to tell the U.S. President that we don’t want a new Cold War. We don’t want interference in any other country, we want all countries to be treated equally,” Mr. Lula said, answering questions from journalists at the end of his four-day visit to Delhi, where he attended the AI Impact Summit and held bilateral talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Brazil and India were the two highest tariffed countries by the U.S., slapped with 50% duties on exports each, and face tariff threats from Mr. Trump over their membership of the BRICS grouping, trade with Iran, and imports of Russian oil. Neither country has thus far concluded a trade deal with the U.S. Mr. Lula, who is expected to visit Washington next month, said he hopes to put all outstanding issues with the U.S. “on the table” for Mr. Trump.
“When a small country negotiates with a bigger country, the agreement will always be harmful for the smaller country. This is the experience that I bring from the trade union and labour movement. To negotiate with the employer, all workers must get together and confront the company policy. If they do it individually, they all lose,” he said, likening international trade to his trade union negotiations, adding that countries in the Global South, including India and Brazil, as well as others must “act together” in negotiating with global superpowers.
‘Call for reforms in UNSC’
Mr. Lula also called for UN Security Council reforms, and in particular, seats in the Council for India and Brazil amongst others.
“Why is India not a permanent member of the UN Security Council, a country that has 1.4 billion people? Why Brazil is not there at the UN Security Council,” he said, adding others such as Germany, Mexico, Nigeria and Egypt as well to the list. He said that as a result, the UN today does not have much efficacy. “UN is capable of making a diagnosis but it doesn’t have the capability to prescribe medication or do the treatment,” he added.
He told journalists that India had taught him some lessons in economic management, recounting a story from his visit to India in 2005, during his previous tenure as President, when he was hosted by then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
“It was in India in 2005 that, for the very first time, I perceived the importance of having international hard currency reserves,” he said, adding that he was impressed that India had then amassed $100 billion in reserves. He said he committed to do the same in Brazil, eventually building reserves of $360 billion and Brazil moved from being a debtor to the IMF to a creditor, which he called was a “transformative experience” for Brazil.
Mr. Lula recounted some personal memories as well, while speaking about his talks in Delhi, which ended with agreements on critical mineral cooperation, steel mining and digital partnership. He said that he was touched that, during the official banquet lunch with PM Modi and the state dinner hosted by President Droupadi Murmu, the band played his favourite Brazilian songs, including the popular “Asa Branca”, just as he said he had played PM Modi’s favourite song during his visit to Brazil last year.
“I did not imagine that they could have remembered the reception we gave him and decided to offer me a gift in return,” Mr. Lula said.
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