Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva talked on the phone in direct response to the “unilateral” tariffs that the United States put in place. They talked about the worsening situation in the world economy. The leaders pledged to “defend multilateralism” and deal with the problems that the new US trade strategy will cause for everyone.
The US government, led by President Donald Trump, has put a 25% tax on Indian goods on top of the 25% tax that was already in place. This brings the overall tax burden to 50%, the same as what Brazil had to pay. President Lula wrote on X that Brazil and India are the two countries that are currently most harmed by these one-sided policies.
Lula’s article said, “We talked about the state of the world economy and the imposition of unilateral tariffs.” “We reaffirmed how important it is to protect multilateralism and deal with the problems of the present, as well as look into ways for the two countries to become more connected.”
The leaders also talked about the important things that happened during PM Modi’s state visit to Brazil in July during the hour-long chat. Lula reaffirmed arrangements for a state visit from Brazil to India in early 2026 as a show of their growing friendship. He said that Vice President Geraldo Alckmin would go to India in October for a meeting of the Trade Monitoring Mechanism as a first step. This group will include ministers and business leaders who will talk about working together in several areas, including as trade, military, energy, vital minerals, health, and digital inclusion.
The two leaders also said again that they want to increase commerce between their countries to more than US$20 billion by 2030. To do this, they decided to make the trade deal between India and the South American trading group MERCOSUR bigger. They also talked about the digital payment systems in their nations, India’s UPI and Brazil’s PIX, and how they may work together.
The talk also brought up the successful BRICS Summit in Brazil and how the two countries need to work together to get ready for India’s impending presidency of the group.