WASHINGTON, Feb 11 ― US President Joe Biden held talks at the White House yesterday with Brazil's leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in a reboot of relations after the end of Donald Trump ally Jair Bolsonaro's stormy rule.
Relations between the hemisphere's two largest democracies grew strained under Lula's far-right predecessor. His world, Lula said, had “started and ended with fake news in the morning, afternoon, at night,” prompting Biden to laugh and interject, “Sounds familiar.” Lula's visit to the White House followed a meeting with Senator Bernie Sanders and Democratic lawmakers.Brazil's foreign ministry had said support for democracy, human rights and the environment would be at the centre of Lula's agenda in Washington.
A US contribution to the Brazilian-administered fund would underline the resetting of ties between the two countries after the recent period of frosty relations.