Lula orders Trump's letter to be 'returned' after Itamaraty confirms its veracity with the US embassy

BRASILIA - The government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva announced this Wednesday, the 9th, that it is returning the letter through which the President of the United States , Donald Trump , communicated the unilateral imposition of 50% tariffs on products imported from Brazil.

Tonight, business executive Gabriel Escobar , head of the U.S. Embassy in Brasília, was summoned for the second time that day to appear before the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He has been the top U.S. government official in the country since January, when former Ambassador Elisabeth Bagley returned to the United States. Trump never appointed his new representative.

Ambassador Maria Luisa Escorel, Secretary of State for Europe and North America, informed Escobar that the president would not receive the letter, which Trump informally shared on the Truth Social network.

The diplomat asked the person in charge if the letter was authentic, and the person in charge confirmed it was, sources familiar with the conversation report. This occurred through the method considered "unorthodox" in diplomacy of publishing the document before it reaches the recipient.

Escorel called the letter "offensive" and pointed out that it contained "untrue statements" about the country and "factual errors" regarding the bilateral trade relationship. Trump cited a trade deficit, when in fact the US has a surplus with Brazil.