page_title: Brazil–United States relations
section_title: Current issues
hierarchical_section_title: Brazil–United States relations / Current issues
caption_attribution_description: English: Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota greet United States President Barack Obama and his family on their arrival at the Palácio da Alvorada in Brasília on 19 March 2011.
context_page_description: Brazil–United States relations are the bilateral relations between Brazil and the United States. Relations have a long history. The United States was the first country to recognize Brazilian independence, and Brazil was the only South American nation to send troops to fight alongside the Allies in World War II. Though never openly confrontational towards each other, the two countries have had relatively-distant relations, with brief periods of co-operation. While Brazilian-American relations strengthened significantly after the election of Dilma Rousseff as president of Brazil in 2010 and the recent deterioration of Brazil–Iran relations, there has been a period of tension in relations over the June 2013 revelation of US mass surveillance programs in Brazil after there had been proof of American spying on Rousseff. Rousseff cancelled a scheduled visit to the US in September, 2013 in protest over such revelations. This tension receded somewhat in 2014 after it became clear that US President Barack Obama had not been directly involved in surveillance programs.
context_section_description: During their first meeting in Washington on March 14, 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama and his Brazilian counterpart, then-President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, discussed the economy, energy, the environment, and the custody case of a U.S. boy taken to Brazil. "I have been a great admirer of Brazil and a great admirer of the progressive, forward-looking leadership that President Lula has shown throughout Latin America and throughout the world," Obama said after the meeting. "We have a very strong friendship between the two countries but we can always make it stronger", he added.
  The issue of the abduction of children from the United States to Brazil has been raised by Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the United States House of Representatives and other U.S. officials and major media. As of December 2009, there are 66 American children that have been taken by one of their parents to live in Brazil. While Brazil is obligated under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction to return every child to the U.S., it has not. Under the treaty, one parent cannot flee the legal jurisdiction where the child resides – "his habitual residence" – to shop for a more favorable court venue in another country to contest for custody.
  Brazil has recently voiced its discontent over the U.S. position of recognizing the results of Honduran presidential election. Brazil rejects the outcome of the election in Honduras.
  As of 2012, Brazil and the United States disagreed over monetary policy, but continued to have a positive relationship.
  According to the Financial Times special report on Brazil–United States relations, bilateral ties have been characterized as historically cordial, though episodes of frustration have occurred more recently. Brazil's former president, Lula da Silva, "prompted U.S. suspicion in 2010 when he tried to intervene alongside Turkey in the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program." Along with Brazil's previous president, Dilma Rousseff, their "ruling Workers Party has been a traditional friend of regimes considered unpalatable by the U.S., such as Cuba and Venezuela under the recently deceased Hugo Chavez." Throughout it all, however, trade has continued to grow, increasing from $28 billion in 2002 to almost $77 billion in 2012, with a $11.6 billion surplus in favor of the United States. Defense cooperation has also improved. The United States has maintained its order for Brazilian light attack aircraft, which represents Brazil's first such contract with the United States military. "Embraer, the Brazilian builder of the aircraft, has signed a cooperation agreement with Boeing to develop a jet-engined military transport aircraft. This has strengthened aspirations in Washington that the U.S. might eventually win a contract to supply the Brazilian air force with fighters." In March 2020, the U.S. government signed an agreement with the Brazilian government to develop defense projects. The companies involved will be able to utilize finance from the U.S. defense research fund.
caption: President Dilma Rousseff and Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota greet President Barack Obama and his family upon their arrival at the Palácio da Alvorada in Brasília, March 19, 2011.
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