Consul General: Brazil Believes in Democracy, Diplomacy and U.S. Global Leadership

Ambassador Pompeu Andreucci Neto has seen it all in his 34-year career in diplomacy.

A lawyer by training who studied economics in Paris and worked for the Brazilian commerce ministry, he has also worked for Brazilian presidents, including a 2016-18 stint heading up protocol for Michel Temer, who took over for an impeached Dilma Rousseff. After that, Mr. Neto served as Brazil’s top envoy to Spain and Ecuador. 

Arriving in Atlanta earlier this year brought a twist: It’s Mr. Netos’ first time heading up a consulate, which comes with a more mundane set of responsibilities than serving in a capital city.

Consulates, he noted, trade the weight of direct talks with national leaders for state and local outreach, and the headier policy issues for immediate community needs like visas and voting.

“You are more in touch with your citizens of your country, of course. I enjoy very much being here, as much as I enjoyed being ambassador in other countries,” Mr. Neto told Global Atlanta in a wide-ranging Consular Conversations interview presented by Miller & Martin PLLC on Nov. 12. 

Still, it was clear from the interview that the theory underpinning international ties — and the broader geopolitical issues facing the bilateral relationship — are never far from the ambassador’s mind, especially as Brazil spends some unaccustomed time in the spotlight (crosshairs?) of U.S. foreign policy. 

A massive, continental country of more than 220 million, Brazil is often as ignored in the U.S. as it is consequential for the world on many fronts, from climate and energy policy to the alleviation of poverty.

Yet U.S. President Donald Trump put a target on Brazil recently, singling it out for up to 50 percent tariffs. His justification? The Brazilian Supreme Court’s treatment of former President Jair Bolsonaro, a rightwing ally of Mr. Trump tried for an alleged coup attempt. 

“Yes, there is a sense of interference. I mean, that is in the press, and it’s part of the official position of the Brazilian government,” said Mr. Neto, who represents a government now led by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. 

But there is no use whining about what could be, or burning bridges, even when things get hard, Mr. Neto said. 

“When you work with a relationship between governments, if I may, one aspect that is absolutely essential is to be pragmatic,” Mr. Neto said. “There’s no reason to start complaining or thinking that you’re going to fight it. You have to adapt. And diplomacy is basically the art of adaptation.” 

That’s how Brazil is treating the trade turbulence: as a chance to diversify markets. Since the tariffs were announced in August, Brazilian exports to the U.S. have dropped by a dramatic 38 percent. 

“It’s a huge number, and we are very concerned,” he added, noting that China, Mercosur (a bloc including Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia) and Europe have picked up some of the slack.

Mr. Neto noted that talks were afoot to address the tariff issue, with some specific discussions ongoing about areas where Brazil maintains leadership, like coffee and beef. (Days after the Global Atlanta event, Mr. Trump rolled back some of the levies on food items straining American pocketbooks, a measure seen as positive by Brazil.) 

“There’s no reason to start complaining or thinking that you’re going to fight it. You have to adapt. And diplomacy is basically the art of adaptation.”

Ambassador pompeu Andreucci neto

A History Lesson on Tariffs

Tariffs, Mr. Neto pointed out, are nothing new, reaching back to the earliest days of the American republic, with protectionism employed to blunt the industrial advantage of Europe and drive domestic industry. 

The march of free trade in recent decades, beginning with the post-war Bretton-Woods institutions and moving to the World Trade Organization, may have obscured the historical fact that such levies have always been a part of the American foreign-policy toolbox, he said.

They’ve also often been contentious, Mr. Neto said, citing the nullification crisis of the 1830s, when South Carolina declared that it could defy Congress and avoid collecting tariffs imposed by the federal government, prompting an irate response from President Andrew Jackson. 

“That is one of the many roots of the Civil War, because the Southern states were very disappointed with those very high import tariffs that would benefit the Northern states that would produce machinery and things like this, but in states like here, Georgia and South Carolina, they had to import most things, and they were being very, very affected by that,” he pointed out.

“I’m just mentioning that because when President Trump, for example, starts dealing with tariffs, it is nothing new. We have to look at this in historical perspective.” 

Perhaps seeing the writing on the wall, and themselves familiar with a government that embraces regulation and protectionism, Brazilian companies have steadily been setting up operations in the United States. 

Either through acquisition, like agribusiness giant JBS’s purchase of Pilgrim’s Pride, or greenfield investment, like Embraer’s facilities in Macon, Ga., Brazilian firms have made a practice of localizing production in the U.S. market.

That not only gives them options when trade crises emerge, but endears them to states like Georgia, which has welcomed more than 70 Brazilian subsidiaries. Gov. Brian Kemp, who visited the country in August, believes even more opportunities exist in South America. 

“The presence of Gov. Kemp in Brazil was a big event for us,” said Mr. Neto, whose interview was followed by quick recap of the trip from Sebastian Barron, the metro Atlanta representative of the governor’s office. 

Mr. Kemp, who celebrated 30 years of the state’s office in Sao Paulo and met with his counterpart there, also held talks with industry groups made special trips to investors like Embraer, JBS, Taurus, CSN and GranBio.

Such investments play a key role Brazil’s role as one of few countries with a trade deficit with the U.S., which has not spared it Mr. Trump’s ire.

“Instead of just exporting to the United States, Brazilian companies started coming to the United States and producing here,” Mr. Neto said. 

A Treatise on Diplomacy 

Brazil, which in 2024 celebrated 200 years of diplomatic relations with the United States, is keeping the long view, Mr. Neto said, giving about 70 guests at The Commerce Club, many of them expatriates convened with the help fo the Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce Southeast, an abridged lesson in international relations from a thousand-page tome. 

Nodding to Mr. Trump’s worry that Brazil and other BRICS countries are seeking to supplant the dominant U.S. role in international trade, he noted that this is not the intention, nor is it a possibility in the immediate future. 

He cited the first paragraph of Henry Kissinger’s “Diplomacy,” which outlines a theory that in each century, a country emerges with “the power, the will and the intellectual and moral impetus to shape the entire international system in accordance with its own values.” 

Despite the rise of China, Mr. Neto said, that set of characteristics still applies only to the United States. 

“Because to have the intellectual and moral impetus to shape the entire international scene, you have to have legitimacy. That is not something that comes out of the country. It’s something that is given to the country by the recognition of all the international system,” he said. 

Climate, Democracy and the World Cup 

That Brazil dutifully plays its role in the broader multilateral system, he said, was showcased by its hosting of the COP30 climate conference as the Consular Conversation event was taking place. 

Often lectured by outside nations about the importance of conserving the Amazon, Mr. Neto noted that the jungle known as the “lungs of the world” is still 95 percent the same as it has always been. 

With 20 million people living in the region, however, it’s “inconceivable” that their livelihoods would not be considered even as Brazil joins the chorus of countries pursuing more aggressive decarbonization measures.

“We cannot wait anymore. This is the moment that we have to work to go ahead and do what we have to do, and that commitment means that countries that pollute more will have to pay more,” he said. 

At least 14,000 Brazilian voters in the five states the consulate covers — Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina andTennessee —will get to express their views on issues like climate next year, as Brazil hosts its next set of general elections. The consulate in Atlanta will effectively become their precinct. 

“That’s a big operation for us and we are starting already to prepare for that,” he said, ruminating on the importance of strengthening democracy as it faces an assault not only from authoritarian leaders but the tyranny of technology. 

“It’s not, of course, a Brazilian problem, it’s a problem of democracy itself,” he said. “I mean, democracy is a process that takes a while to be built. You have to build consensus. You have to talk to people … It’s the way you bring people together, and that takes time. And the speed of the new media, of social media, of the way people communicate today, is not in the same rhythm as democracy.”  

That doesn’t mean that democracy should be abandoned or apologized for, he said. 

“It’s expensive, and it takes time, and most of the time people are not ready to wait for that, so there is a lot of criticism against democratic regimes. But as Churchill used to say, it is the worst one, excepting all the others.”

Reflecting on his objectives for the coming year, Mr. Neto noted the consulate could also play a role in welcoming Brazilians to Atlanta for the FIFA World Cup, as the city hosts eight matches including one semifinal, he said. 

That possibility was boosted Friday, as the technical draw put Brazil in a group that could see its first matches played in Atlanta. 

Mr. Neto had a front-row seat to the World Cup in 2014, as he worked in the president’s office during Brazil’s turn hosting the tournament. More important than the softer aspects of the event, he said, are the hard assets: 

“What is absolutely essential, in terms of any country hosting a World Cup, is infrastructure. It’s not a matter of parties, it’s not a matter of games, it’s not a matter of sports. No, it’s infrastructure. How you get people there, how you move them out of there, how they get to the airport, who’s going to make the security and safety that is available for everybody, and how you’re going to host them, where they’re going to sleep. That is the main part for a successful World Cup.”

During the Q&A period, the audience repeatedly expressed interest in the consulate’s views on using the tournament as a platform for driving investment relations between Georgia and Brazil, showing the promise of a potential Atlanta match to advance economic ties.

To learn more about the consulate, go here. To listen to the full interview, see the video embedded below (Global Atlanta Passport members only):