Latin American Countries' Closeness with China Been Annoying Trump Lately

US President Donald Trump on Thursday said he was not worried about Brazil, Mexico and other Latin American nations moving closer to China, telling reporters in the Oval Office, “They can do whatever they want.”

The remarks came during a brief exchange at the White House. Trump added: “You know, none of them are doing very well, and what we’re doing in terms of economics, we’re blowing everyone away, including China. We’re doing better than any other country in the world right now.”

Trump’s comments came as Brazil steps up coordination with Beijing to mount a multilateral response to the tariffs he imposed last month.

On Tuesday, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva spoke for about an hour by phone with Chinese leader Xi Jinping to discuss the “Brics bloc’s role in countering unilateral trade measures”.

The call was arranged after Washington announced a 50 per cent tariff on a wide range of Brazilian exports in late July, threatening billions of dollars in trade.

Trump has linked the tariffs to Brazil’s political crisis, citing the criminal prosecution of former president Jair Bolsonaro on charges of plotting to overturn the 2022 election.

Brazil’s prosecutor general, Paulo Gonet, has accused Bolsonaro of directly coordinating plans to assassinate then president-elect Lula, vice president-elect Geraldo Alckmin and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who oversaw the coup attempt case, after losing the election.

The US sanctioned de Moraes last month under the Magnitsky Act, alleging human rights violations against Bolsonaro and his allies.

Doubling down on his argument on Thursday, Trump called Brazil “one of the worst countries on Earth” as a trading partner, accusing it of imposing “tremendous tariffs” for years and making trade “very difficult”.

In fact, the US maintained a US$7 billion surplus with Brazil last year, with eight of the 10 main American export products to the South American nation exempt from tariffs, according to Brazilian trade data.

“They made it very difficult to do anything,” Trump said. “So now they’re being charged 50 per cent tariffs, and they’re not happy, but that’s the way it goes.”

Mexico has also deepened trade with China. Exports to the Chinese market reached a record US$5.2 billion in the first half of 2025, according to figures reported on Thursday by local newspaper El Economista.

Trump has threatened a 25 per cent tariff on Mexican goods but extended by 90 days earlier this month the deadline for reaching a deal with its neighbour.