247 –  US President Donald Trump declared this Thursday (14) that Brazil would be conducting a “political execution” against Jair Bolsonaro. The speech was made to reporters at the White House.

Trump, who maintains close ties with the former Brazilian president, said he considered him"an honest man" and once again criticized the ongoing investigations against Bolsonaro, who is accused of leading an attempted coup.

"I'm very good with people, he [Jair Bolsonaro] is an honest man, I think what they did... this is a political execution what they're trying to do to Bolsonaro. I think it's terrible," said the US president.

When asked about Brazil's rapprochement with China, Trump downplayed the matter."No, I'm not worried at all. No, they can do whatever they want, they're not doing very well. What we're doing economically, we're impressing everyone, including China," he said.

The US president also attacked Brazilian trade policy, calling Brazil a “terrible trading partner” and one of the most difficult countries to do business with.

"They also treated us very poorly as trading partners for many, many years, one of the worst countries in the world for that. They charged very high tariffs and made it very difficult to do anything," he said.

Rates

The imposition of a 50% tariff on certain Brazilian products was, in part, justified by Washington as a reaction to what Trump and other American officials called a “witch hunt” against Bolsonaro, in reference to the investigations into an alleged coup attempt.

In response to the statements, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said this Thursday that he will not"cry" if the US does not want to purchase Brazilian products and that he will seek new markets for the country.