The reelection of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva for a fourth term, confirmed on Sunday (25), drew congratulations from leaders on nearly every continent, from Beijing to Brussels and from left and right-wing governments alike. The most noted exception was Washington: as of this report's publication, the government of US President Donald Trump had not congratulated the Workers' Party (PT) leader, according to InfoMoney, and the absence fueled analysis about the state of Brazil-United States relations.
Congratulations from Beijing to Brussels
China, Brazil's largest trading partner since 2009, spoke on Monday (26) through Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun, who said his country is "willing to work with Brazil to continue advancing the building of a community with a shared future." The Kremlin also welcomed the reelection and praised Lula's contribution to bilateral ties and to Brics, the bloc of emerging economies to which both countries belong. India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Lula a "dear friend" and said he looks forward to deepening the strategic partnership and the shared priorities of the Global South.
In Europe, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote that "democracy and multilateralism won in Brazil" and pledged to work for "free and open trade" and the climate agenda. French President Emmanuel Macron called for strengthening the strategic partnership with Brazil, and Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez read the result through a domestic lens: "What happened in Brazil will happen in Spain." From the Americas came greetings from Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney and Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum. South America's right also spoke up: Chile's President José Antonio Kast, who is close to the Bolsonaro family, phoned Lula, and Colombia's President Abelardo de la Espriella, who had backed Senator Flávio Bolsonaro in the race, recognized the result and defended continued cooperation between the two countries. Paraguay's President Santiago Peña and Peru's President Keiko Fujimori also sent greetings.
What Washington's silence means for Brazil
On Sunday, before voting ended, Trump said he was following the Brazilian election but endorsed neither candidate. The only public reaction from the US president's circle came from his son, Donald Trump Jr., who took to social media to criticize the decision by Justice Cristiano Zanin of the Supreme Federal Court (STF), Brazil's top court, to extend voting by two hours at polling stations that still had voters in line. Argentina's President Javier Milei, a Trump ally, also stayed silent. In Brazil, Flávio Bolsonaro said he does not recognize Lula's victory and announced he will ask for the election to be annulled.
For Brazil, Washington's silence carries weight because the bilateral relationship had already been deteriorating in recent months. The White House imposed tariffs on Brazilian products and publicly pressed against the judicial process that convicted former President Jair Bolsonaro for an attempted coup. In contrast, the partners who rushed to congratulate Lula made clear what they expect from his fourth term. The European Union wants to unblock its trade deal with Mercosur, the South American customs union, an issue Lula took to Macron during a state visit to Paris in June 2025, when the French leader still opposed the treaty, according to BBC Brasil. On the same trip, Brazil sought French support for its bid for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. China, in turn, has an interest in preserving access to commodities and alignment within Brics.
The queue of congratulations, which includes even ideological adversaries of the left in South America, lowers the diplomatic cost of Washington's isolation and gives Lula room to negotiate. Still, the United States remains one of Brazil's main economic partners, which makes reopening dialogue on the tariffs one of the new government's first tests on the foreign front. For now, the question lingering in Brasília is when, and in what terms, the official American statement will arrive.