Problems loom in relationship with the US
With less than ten days to go before Joe Biden takes office as president of the United States, the Bolsonaro administration is still very distant from the new American administration. He has failed to build bridges with the new US leader, making a point of reaffirming his ties with Donald Trump, who refuses to acknowledge defeat in the elections and ends his government betting even more on dividing the country after inciting the invasion of the Capital last week.
These attitudes will obviously make Brazil's relationship with the US difficult, even though Mr. Biden is seen as a pragmatic politician. Brazil will be even more isolated in the external scene, facing problems especially because of the Bolsonaro administration's attitude towards the environment, which will be one of the new American president's priorities.
Last week, President Bolsonaro again questioned the US electoral process, stating that the reason of the American crisis is "basically the lack of confidence in the vote." According to him, "there, people voted, and they potentiated postal votes because of the pandemic, and some voted three, four times, even dead people voted. It was crazy. Nobody can deny that." The president also told supporters that Brazil will have "a bigger problem than the United States" in 2022, if there is not a change in the electoral system here, to paper ballot from electronic ballot boxes.
Mr. Bolsonaro uses the example of the American election to once again dispute the credibility of the Brazilian elections, indicating that he could repeat Mr. Trump's strategy next year if the result is unfavorable to him. The president has said several times that the 2018 election, in which he beat Fernando Haddad (Workers' Party, PT) by a broad margin, was rigged. With this strategy, Mr. Bolsonaro subordinates the interests of the country to his personal interests.
Although he is close to Mr. Trump, it's about time to seek a rapprochement with Mr. Biden. The Brazilian president only congratulated the US president-elect 38 days after the elections, being the last leader of the G-20 countries to acknowledge the Democratic candidate's victory.
In an interview with Valor in October, Thomas Shannon, the US ambassador to Brazil between 2010 and 2013, stressed that "the Democratic Party's agenda is not favorable to President Bolsonaro," citing the environmental and LGBTQ topics, although Mr. Biden knows and understands that Brazil has strategic value for the US.
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