Since Donald Trump’s return to the White House, Brazil’s relationship with the United States has swung up and down like a roller coaster. It has been improving slowly and only through intense Brazilian diplomacy, but at any moment it can deteriorate rapidly again with a new blow from Washington. “We cannot accept the way the United States has treated Brazil this week,” President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva declared on Wednesday at a cabinet meeting in Brasília. Lula was referring to the Trump administration’s threat to impose new tariffs days after the U.S. designated two Brazilian criminal gangs as terrorist organizations. The left-wing president has again wrapped himself in the national flag and accused the Bolsonaros — former right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro and his son, the senator Flávio Bolsonaro — of being traitors to the homeland for encouraging Trump’s interference.

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U.S. President Donald Trump gave a boost on Tuesday to the presidential bid of Brazilian senator Flávio Bolsonaro, son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, by receiving him in the Oval Office, 19 days after meeting there with Brazil’s president, former union leader Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Barring a surprise, Lula and Bolsonaro’s son are expected to face each other at the ballot box in October. Flávio Bolsonaro’s team hopes the photo with Trump will help him overcome a popularity crisis and consolidate his candidacy.

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