MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Trump declines to back Lula or Flávio Bolsonaro as Brazil votes

Trump gave vague answers. “I'm following it very closely. It's a very important country. The people of Brazil are fantastic. It's a very important election”

US President Donald Trump has not endorsed either of the two leading candidates in Brazil's presidential election on Sunday, unlike in recent elections in Honduras, Colombia, Chile, Argentina and Costa Rica.

Asked twice this week by reporters before boarding the presidential helicopter, Trump gave vague answers. “I'm following it very closely. It's a very important country. The people of Brazil are fantastic. It's a very important election,” he said on Thursday. “We're looking at the whole thing and following it very closely,” he repeated on Friday.

Over the past year, Trump publicly backed candidates including Nasry Asfura in Honduras, Abelardo de la Espriella in Colombia ahead of the runoff, Javier Milei in Argentina, José Antonio Kast in Chile and Laura Fernández in Costa Rica. Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, met him in the Oval Office in May, leaving with a joint photograph but no statement of support.

Trump's caution contrasts with his administration's tensions with Brasília. In July, Washington imposed new tariffs on Brazilian goods and sanctioned two Brazilian citizens and three companies over alleged links to the First Capital Command, which it designated a terrorist organisation along with Comando Vermelho. In 2025 it had sanctioned ministers and judges involved in the trial of Jair Bolsonaro, sentenced to 27 years for attempting a coup, a process Trump called a “witch hunt”.

The Brazilian Intelligence Agency raised the risk of US interference to “critical level” in a classified report sent in late August to the presidency, the Superior Electoral Court and the Justice Ministry. The assessment is preventive and does not claim that actual interference has occurred. According to Reuters, agency officials told a French and German delegation in September that there was interference from both the United States and Russia. In Washington, some thirty Democratic lawmakers, including Senator Bernie Sanders, accused Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a letter of acting “as an agent of interference and destabilisation” in Brazil.

Polls show Lula and Bolsonaro tied in a possible runoff, which would take place on October 25 if no candidate wins more than 50% of valid votes today. Voting is electronic and results are usually known within hours of polls closing.