Brazil's Lula will face foreign policy conundrum

Significance

Fernandez’s last-minute visit was arranged during an April 27 phone conversation. Lula promised to explore ways to help finance Brazilian exports to Argentina, endangered by Argentina’s lack of dollars, and to intervene with the IMF “to remove the knife from Argentina’s throat”. Beyond South America, however, Lula’s ambition to boost Brazil’s global role faces various obstacles.

Impacts

• Amazonia is a major foreign policy asset for Brazil, but making the most of it will require reducing deforestation quickly.
• Assistance to Argentina could bolster declining manufacturing output, for which Argentina is the main export market.
• The international panorama will prove far less favourable to Lula than during his previous period in office.