Speech on sovereignty and defense of Palestine put Brazil “on the good side of history” at the UN, says former ambassador

By Guilherme Cavalcanti | September 23, 2025

"Attacks on sovereignty, arbitrary sanctions, and unilateral interventions are becoming the norm," said President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva (Workers' Party) at the opening of the 80th United Nations General Assembly in New York on Tuesday (23), minutes before the microphone was passed to US President Donald Trump. The criticism concerns the conditions imposed by the United States on other countries in recent months, which include a 50% tariff increase on imports from Brazil, already in effect. The presidents adopted opposing positions and discourses at the meeting.

"While Brazil championed multilateralism by supporting the United Nations, the United States attacked the UN within the UN. While Lula defended the environment, Trump attacked the idea of ​​global warming and renewable energy," noted former ambassador Cesário Melantonio Neto, who asserts that Brazil's stance places the country "on the good side of history."

For Dawisson Belém Lopes, professor of international and comparative politics at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), the speech may be "the most important" in Lula's international career. "Brazil is seen as a success story, a case of resistance to Donald Trump's excesses. [...] Lula capitalized on this narrative as a statesman and statesman," Lopes assessed. "Since the first week of his administration, he has lived with the threat to the democratic order. And Lula has built a narrative of legitimacy."

The executive director of Democracy in Check, Fabiano Garrido, assessed that the speech was “at the same time, balanced and firm”, and that Lula, by positioning himself at the UN a few days after demonstrations in Brazil and the conviction of former president Jair Bolsonaro, reinforced the message that the Executive has the support to sustain the democratic order.

Read the full report.