Brazilian Diplomat Talks Relationship With US in Advance of Blinken’s Visit to Rio

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Secretary of State Antony Blinken travels to Rio de Janeiro this week, marking his first visit to Brazil after four years as the top U.S. diplomat. Many believe the visit, scheduled to coincide with the G20 foreign ministers’ summit, is overdue as the two largest democracies in the Western Hemisphere have been on somewhat separate paths of late. 

“The Brazil-U.S. relationship now passes a very challenging moment, perhaps one of the most challenging moments in our bilateral relationship,” Rubens Barbosa, former Brazilian ambassador to the U.S. from 1999-2004, told the Wilson Center in advance of Blinken’s visit. 

“I don’t think the region … is on the radar of the State Department and the U.S. government,” he said. 

“The world has changed. Brazil has changed. We are in the middle of two wars and a confrontation between the U.S. and China. We have a new economy; we have a new global order; and the priorities of the United States don’t include Brazil or even South America.”

Discouraged by a general sense that the bilateral relationship doesn’t live up to its potential and isn’t being treated as a priority, Barbosa said Blinken’s visit is, nonetheless, an opportunity to discuss expectations and challenges surrounding diplomatic engagement, though he said he was “very pessimistic that any strategic changes may occur.”

The visit comes at a moment of increasing global influence for Brazil. Not only is the country taking presidency of the G20, but it is also slated to host the upcoming 2025 U.N. Climate Change Conference. And Brazil has its eye on diplomacy in the region, recently vocally rejecting any use of force by its northern neighbor, Venezuela, to occupy the Essequibo territory in Guyana. 

“The changes that are taking place in the world: the Brazilian economy, Brazilian foreign trade, attraction of investment … is not, in my view, high on the agenda of the U.S. administration and U.S. companies,” Barbosa said.

Furthering this, Blinken is expected to address only limited bilateral interests such as governance, the energy transition and inclusive economic growth during his upcoming visit.

Remarking on the similarities happening in the political sphere in both Brazil and the United States, especially in terms of polarization, Barbosa said, “I don’t know how to overcome the difficulties that we are experiencing. We think unilaterally, so we have to find areas of strategic interest, but these are so far not being discussed.” 

And he says this declining interest in the region on the part of the United States is “opening a space” for China. 

“This is the reality,” Barbosa told the Wilson Center. “China today is the main partner of practically all countries [in South America], perhaps with the exception of Colombia … and China is not attaching conditions to the trade increase, they are just occupying the place left by U.S. companies.”

“If the United States doesn’t come to Brazil, China will come; Korea will come. Asian countries will come,” he said. “Nobody disputes that Brazil is a Western country, but now in the last 15 years, given changes in the world scenario, Brazil is very dependent on Asia.”

To counter this perceived lack of focus on trade and economic ties, Barbosa emphasized that the U.S. needs to recognize Brazil’s strategic importance as the only “Western” country in the region and a vital partner in areas like minerals and regional value chains.

“When it matters, Brazil is alongside the United States, but each country has its own interests,” Barbosa said. “So I think some places should be identified in [these dialogues] … to identify areas of common interest. But this has not been done and I don’t think it’s being done now.” 

Kate can be reached at [email protected].