Lula says Trump must 'stay out' of Brazil elections

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Wednesday that US President Donald Trump has the right to have an ⁠electoral preference in Brazil, but warned his US counterpart to "stay out" of this year's elections.

Lula intends to run for reelection in October's vote, and ⁠his main challenger in polls is Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, son of the ⁠ex-President Jair Bolsonaro.

"They play pretty tough, but ⁠nobody plays tougher than the United States," Trump said.

The jabs ​were the latest back-and-forth in the up-and-down relationship between the two leaders, ​who were both in Switzerland on Wednesday for the last day of the G7 summit.

Lula's main challenger in polls is Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, son of Trump ally ​and Brazil's ex-President Jair Bolsonaro, who is living under house arrest after ​he was convicted last year of plotting a coup after the 2022 election.

The U.S. president met with ‌Senator ⁠Bolsonaro last month, alongside his brother, Eduardo Bolsonaro, a former lawmaker living in the United States. Trump had met with Lula just a few weeks earlier.

Eduardo Bolsonaro, who has been working to gather international ​support for his ​family, was convicted on Tuesday ⁠by Brazil's Supreme Court of courting interference from the Trump administration in his father's trial last year, ​which he denies.

A spokesperson for the U.S. State ​Department ⁠said Eduardo Bolsonaro's conviction was part of a "pattern of persecution and lawfare by the Brazilian courts against their political opposition."

The spokesperson added that "political debates ⁠should ​be settled by democratic elections, not by ​convictions."