The new globalisation paradox

Oct 30th 2025|5 min read

Brazil’s presidential palace was designed to project calm power. Oscar Niemeyer, the country’s great modernist architect, gave it marble columns that curve like Brazil’s rivers and seem to float on a still reflecting pool—a poised emblem of national sovereignty. But the calm can be deceptive. In 2023 a mob inspired by Jair Bolsonaro, a hard-right former president, stormed its gates. Pressure can come from abroad, too: in July President Donald Trump imposed tariffs of 50% on Brazilian goods out of pique at the prosecution of Mr Bolsonaro. Although Mr Trump and Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (known as Lula), had warm words for each other after a meeting in Malaysia this week, the episode shows how easily the superpower can reach into Brazil’s politics. It also provides a lesson about how to conduct trade policy in Mr Trump’s world.