Brazil’s President Lula Accuses Trump of “Trying to Become Emperor of the World”

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva accused U.S. President Donald Trump of seeking to “become an emperor of the world” and urged him to respect other nations' sovereignty, Barron’s reported on February 20.

“The way [Trump] acts, he is trying to become an emperor of the world,” Lula said in an interview with a radio station. “He is trying to chime in on all countries and in all public policies.”

These statements follow Trump’s criticism of Ukraine’s leadership, where he called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “dictator without elections” and falsely claimed his approval rating had dropped to 4%. Trump also warned that Ukraine “better move fast or he is not going to have a country left.”

Lula urged Trump to “realize that the sovereignty of each country must be respected” and called for greater gestures of “friendship.”

On February 19, Zelenskyy criticized Trump for echoing Russian disinformation regarding the war in Ukraine, addressing claims about his approval rating and assertions that Ukraine bears responsibility for the war.