Brazil-U.S. bilateral relations mended by delayed state visit.
| Autor | Scruggs, Gregory |
An official state visit to Washington by Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff finally came to fruition on June 30, nearly two years after she canceled the prestigious journey on account of a US surveillance operation. In September 2013, Rousseff unexpectedly called off her planned trip to the White House for the following month in light of revelations that the US National Security Agency (NSA) had spied on her, including by tapping her private cell phone (NotiSur, Oct. 11, 2013). The NSA had spied on several leaders of US allies, prompting a flurry of angry reprisals in the diplomatic sphere against President Barack Obama. Rousseff, for example, delivered a sharply critical speech to the UN General Assembly just weeks after the spying news broke that obliquely mentioned the Obama administration.
Two years on, Brazil and the US have reached a detente. At the April Summit of the Americas in Panama, Rousseff and Obama held a one-on-one meeting that resulted in the announcement of the June state visit, which was shoehorned into an already full 2015 calendar of overseas delegations to the White House. The two leaders reached agreements on easing travel between the two nations and on progress toward climate change ahead of the UN climate negotiations in Paris, COP 21, which will take place in December.
Analysts believe the timing of Dilma's rapprochement with Obama was designed to shore up a weak economy and domestic political unpopularity. Potential new trade opportunities could bolster struggling Brazilian markets. Meanwhile, proximity to a superpower such as the US, including validation by Obama that Brazil is a major geopolitical player, is a public-relations win for the ailing Brazilian president.
Strong US Interest in reigniting relationship
Although spurned by Rousseff, the US has eagerly awaited the opportunity to smooth over the rough patch in bilateral relations in the last two years. China is now the largest trading partner with Brazil, a role once occupied by the US. A state visit such as Rousseff's, which also included stops in New York City to court investment bankers and Silicon Valley to woo technology companies, could spur increased foreign direct investment.
"From the White House perspective this is a chance to really re-energize a very important relationship that frankly has been on ice for the last two years," says the Council of the Americas and Americas Society's Eric Farnsworth.
Obama is also pursuing a climate-change agenda...
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