<\/p>\n
Spain and Brazil signed a flurry of agreements at Pedro S\u00e1nchez and Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva\u2019s first bilateral summit, as the Spanish leader seeks to build an alliance to counter US President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe relationship between Spain and Brazil goes far beyond the strictly bilateral,\u201d S\u00e1nchez told reporters after signing 15 deals covering areas including critical minerals, telecommunications and artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n
Read:
Trump says he\u2019ll cut off trade with Spain over air base use
Xi, Lula vow unity in phone call as Trump reshapes world order<\/p>\n
\u201cPeace and the values that sustain it are being attacked by a reactionary wave,\u201d he said, adding that \u201cwhile others open wounds, what we want is to close and heal them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The meeting with Brazil\u2019s president marked the start of two days of talks in Barcelona, where S\u00e1nchez is hosting about a dozen heads of state and government in a bid to position the Spanish city as a hub of resistance to Trump and a revival of the political left.<\/p>\n
Leaders from Mexico, South Africa, Colombia and Uruguay are also attending events and are scheduled to speak on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Participants share opposition to the war in Iran and to what they see as interventionist US foreign policy outside international institutions they say have proven ineffective.<\/p>\n
Weakened international institutions\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI fully understand when you say \u2018No to war,\u2019\u201d Lula said alongside S\u00e1nchez. \u201cThe UN is very weakened today. The nations that created the UN do not respect it,\u201d he said. \u201cWhy have democratic institutions stopped working?\u201d<\/p>\n
ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n
CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n
S\u00e1nchez is seeking to enlist these countries in \u201cthe necessary reform of the multilateral system,\u201d including changes to the UN to give more voice to\u00a0Global South\u00a0countries such as Brazil, he said.<\/p>\n
The Spanish premier has emerged as one of Trump\u2019s most\u00a0outspoken critics\u00a0in the European Union.<\/p>\n
Among the first leaders to oppose the intervention in Iran, which he described as \u201cillegal,\u201d S\u00e1nchez barred the use of Spanish airspace and the two US air bases in the country for operations supporting the strikes. Trump responded by threatening to cut off all trade agreements with Spain.<\/p>\n
Read: Spain shuts airspace to US flights involved in Iran offensive<\/p>\n
The rift adds to tensions over the Spanish government\u2019s\u00a0refusal to raise defense spending to 5% of gross domestic product, a target the US pushed on NATO allies at last year\u2019s summit. Spain was the only country not to commit to the goal, saying it would not exceed 2.1%.<\/p>\n
China Visit<\/p>\n
The Spanish prime minister had already outlined his vision for a multilateral system in\u00a0Beijing\u00a0earlier this week.<\/p>\n
Speaking at Tsinghua University on Monday, he said that \u201cthe West must give up part of its representation quotas in favour of global stability and the trust of countries in the South.\u201d<\/p>\n
ADVERTISEMENT:<\/p>\n
CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n
A day later, Chinese President Xi Jinping echoed those remarks.<\/p>\n
Spain and China should \u201ccooperate closely, oppose the world\u2019s retrogression to the law of the jungle, and jointly safeguard genuine multilateralism,\u201d said Xi Jinping.<\/p>\n
S\u00e1nchez is applying the same logic with China as with leaders gathered in Barcelona: strengthening the EU\u2019s ties with economic and strategic partners beyond a US that is increasingly seen as a less reliable ally.<\/p>\n
Read: Europeans building bridges with China amid chaos unleashed by Trump<\/p>\n
Areas for cooperation include climate change, critical minerals, AI and free-trade agreements. Lula and S\u00e1nchez welcomed the signing this year \u2014 after two decades of negotiations \u2014 of the Mercosur agreement between the EU and Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.<\/p>\n
In January, the EU also clinched a\u00a0free-trade agreement with India, and the European Commission is negotiating to approve or update others, a strategy that contrasts with the tariff war pursued by Trump.<\/p>\n
\u201cProgressives are becoming fewer,\u201d Lula said. \u201cDemocracy needs international spokespersons,\u201d but \u201cour flock is growing because the world needs hope.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a9 2026 Bloomberg<\/p>\n
#Spain #signs #deals #Brazil #S\u00e1nchez #counter #Trump<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Spain and Brazil signed a flurry of agreements at Pedro S\u00e1nchez and Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[46,5184,437,9002,2016,9001,721],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4184"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4184\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}