WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva discussed the economy, energy and the environment Saturday during their first White House meeting.
Both leaders said the Oval Office sit-down was productive and they looked forward to seeing each other at the Group of 20 nations meeting April 2 in London, followed by the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad in mid-April.
“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.
Silva, who spoke through a translator, said one of the points he raised was “the importance of President Obama’s election, what it represents to the world and especially to Latin America.”
Brazil has become a major U.S. trading partner, and its cautious economic policies have helped it weather the global financial crisis better than almost all other major economic powers.
Brazil also has huge new sources of offshore oil and is the world’s largest exporter of ethanol, which could give it an important role in helping the U.S. wean itself from Venezuelan crude and shift to cleaner sources of energy.
Brazil, however, has seen little progress on its demand that the U.S. lift a 53-cent-per-gallon import tariff on ethanol, a gasoline alternative. Obama said he has admired Silva’s efforts to develop biofuels and wants to follow a similar path developing cleaner sources of energy for the U.S. He acknowledged tensions between the two countries over ethanol and suggested they can be resolved over time.
Obama also privately raised the custody case of David Goldman, a Tinton Falls, N.J., man who is trying to bring his 8-year-old son back from Brazil. The boy was taken there in 2004 by his mother, who died years later while giving birth.
