Video claiming to show President Lula responding to President Trump is from 2022
The statements in the video were made years before Trump or Lula’s current terms
CLAIM
A video shared on social media claimed to show Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s forceful response to U.S. President Donald Trump amid ongoing tensions between the U.S. and several Latin American countries.
BACKGROUND
When asked how he sees the relationship between Brazil, Latin American countries and the United States, newly-elected President Trump said Brazil and Latin American countries need the United States more than the U.S. needs them.
“They need us more than we need them. We don’t need them; they need us. Everyone needs us,” Trump said in the Oval Office on January 20.
Following the statement, a video claiming to show Lula’s response was shared across Instagram, TikTok and YouTube in which Lula says “Brazil is not their servant” and “we are nobody’s backyard.”
“I treat them with the respect I think they deserve, and I want them to treat me with the respect that Brazil deserves. They have to understand that Brazil is the most important country in Latin America. We have the biggest population, the biggest economy, and it’s in the interest of Brazil to grow together with all the countries of Latin America and South America. Brazil can be a main character in South America,” Lula says in the video.
“What the United States needs to learn is that Brazil is not their servant. Brazil is a sovereign nation that defines its foreign policy, and in the same way that Brazil respects U.S. foreign policy, we want them to respect the foreign policy of Brazil. We are nobody’s backyard,” Lula adds.
The video was shared widely including with this post on a Lula supporters Instagram page with the caption “President Lula’s response to the neo-Nazi Trump” and was also shared on TikTok and YouTube.
METHOD
We first ran a reverse Google reverse image search of Lula giving the speech. However with no distinctive elements – other than a light blue shirt and dark blazer – the search was inconclusive.
Next, we transcribed one of the key phrases from the video: “Não somos quintal de ninguém” (“We are nobody’s backyard”). Searching for this phrase in Portuguese on Google led us to a full transcription of the speech on the Workers’ Party website. By using a translation tool, we confirmed that the rest of the soundbites came from the same interview, which took place in January 2022, long before Trump took office for his second term.
RATING
The video is edited and misleading. It uses a 2022 interview with Lula, taken out of context, and has no connection to the current political situation between the United States and Brazil. The statements in the video were made years before Trump or Lula’s current terms and do not reflect any direct response to recent remarks.
SOURCES
Instagram (2025). Available at: Resposta do Presidente Lula ao neonazi$ta Trump. [Accessed 3 Feb. 2025].
Instagram (2025). Available at: Lula deixa um recado para o Trump! [Accessed 3 Feb. 2025].
YouTube Available at: Ao vivo 19/01 | Lula concede entrevista coletiva em São Paulo [Accessed 3 Feb. 2025].
TikTok O BRASIL NÃO É SERVIÇAL DELES DISSE LULA SOBRE O EUA [Accessed 3 Feb. 2025].
Worker’s Party website Available at: “Não somos quintal de ninguém”, diz Lula [Accessed 3 Feb. 2025].
Lula’s website Available at: Integra da entrevista [Accessed 3 Feb. 2025].