As Lula Takes the Helm, Where Will U.S.-Brazil Ties Go?

Brazil’s president-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and U.S. White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan pose for a photo during a meeting in Brasilia, Brazil December 5, 2022. Ricardo Stuckert/Handout via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY

February 7, 2023

12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

Zoom Webinar

Lula’s return, after a tumultuous election and a shocking attack by extremists on Brazilian parliament and Supreme Court, nevertheless opens a pathway for a reorientation in Brasilia and deeper U.S.-Brazilian cooperation on a number of fronts. These include climate change, commitment to democracy, and regional stability. However, Lula’s previous stint as president also demonstrated that he attached great priority to the Global South. Brazil was a co-founder of the BRIC (later BRICS) grouping which included China, Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa and played a key role in advocating an alternative global order.

As Washington increasingly frames the Global South through a lens of “the rules-based order” and “strategic competition,” how could Brazil and the United States influence each other’s policy choices? How will Brazil keep an even keel between its approach toward the United States, China, Russia? How could Lula energize regional integration and stabilization projects, and what can be Washington’s contributions in these arenas?

Panelists

Filipe Nasser

Filipe Nasser is a Brazilian career diplomat since 2006. He is currently a Senior Advisor to Brazil’s Foreign Minister, H.E. Ambassador Mauro Vieira. Previously he was Head of the Division for the Affairs of the Sea, Antarctica and Outer Space in Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Mr. Nasser has had postings in Brazil’s Embassies in Washington, DC and Santo Domingo and Brazil’s Mission to the United Nations in New York. He founded and served as the first editor-in-chief of Juca, the yearly journal of Brazil’s diplomatic academy. He holds a Master's in Public Administration (Harvard University), a Master's in Diplomacy (Rio Branco Institute), and a BA in International Relations (University of Brasilia).

Claudia Antunes

Claudia Antunes is a Brazilian journalist who has covered international affairs and the Brazilian foreign policy for 30 years. She has been the international editor at the major Brazilian newspapers Folha de S. Paulo and O Globo and is working as a freelance journalist since January. Claudia was a fellow at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University for the year 2005-2006. Her articles have been published by Folha de S. Paulo, O Globo, Piaui Magazine, Jornal do Brasil and others.

Andre Pagliarini

Andre Pagliarini is a non-resident fellow at the Quincy Institute, an assistant professor of history at Hampden-Sydney College in central Virginia, and a fellow at the Washington Brazil Office. He has written widely on Latin America for academic and general audiences in publications like the New York Times, The Guardian, New Republic, and Jacobin in the United States and Folha de São Paulo and Piauí in Brazil. He is also a monthly columnist at the Brazilian Report, an award-winning online news organization supported, among other partners, by the Wilson Center’s Brazil Institute, and a Latin America research analyst at London Politica, a non-profit political risk advisory that works with NGOs and social movements. His research focuses on the Cold War in Latin America, specifically the contested politics of nationalism, development, and citizenship.

Sarang Shidore (Moderator)

Sarang Shidore is Director of Studies and Senior Research Fellow at the Quincy Institute, and a senior non-resident fellow at the Council on Strategic Risks. He is also adjunct faculty at George Washington University, where he teaches a class on the geopolitics of climate change. His areas of research and analysis are geopolitical risk, grand strategy, and energy/climate security, with a special emphasis on Asia. Sarang has collaborated and published with multiple organizations including the Asian Peace Program, Brookings Institution, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Council on Foreign Relations, Council on Strategic Risks, Oxford Analytica, Paulson Institute, Stimson Center, UK Ministry of Defense, and Woodwell Climate Research Center. He has more than 90 publications to his credit in journals, edited volumes, and media outlets in his areas of expertise.