Trump calls Brazil 'politically difficult' after Bolsonaro son's conviction

Former US President Donald Trump has sharply criticized Brazil's judicial and political landscape, labeling it a "politically difficult" country that "plays pretty tough."

Trump's remarks came immediately after the Brazilian Supreme Federal Court (STF) issued a criminal conviction against Eduardo Bolsonaro, the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro. However, Trump, in his characteristic defiant style, issued a warning: "Nobody plays tougher than the United States."

"It's been unpleasant, they've arrested someone who is running for elections... He was doing well in the polls and they arrested him for making statements in Texas," Trump stated during a press conference concluding his participation in the G7 summit in Évian, France. In these comments, Trump appeared to publicly confuse Eduardo Bolsonaro with his brother, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, who is the official opposition candidate for the upcoming presidential elections and whom Trump formally received in Washington last month.

The White House's reaction follows the STF's First Chamber's unanimous verdict against Eduardo Bolsonaro, sentencing him to four years and two months in a semi-open prison regime for coercion during legal proceedings. Brazilian justice found that the former congressman used his political connections in the United States to pressure the Trump administration for economic reprisals and sanctions against STF magistrates to halt the coup trial against his father.

As Eduardo Bolsonaro resides abroad, the trial proceeded in his absence. The verdict definitively impacted his public future, automatically disqualifying him from political office for eight years, stripping him of his position as an official in the Federal Police, and confirming the loss of his congressional seat, which had already occurred in December due to excessive unexcused absences.

This sentence against Eduardo represents the second major judicial blow to Brazil's far-right leadership in less than a year. His father, Jair Bolsonaro, was sentenced in September 2025 to 27 years in prison for orchestrating a coup attempt to overturn the results of the 2022 election, which he lost to the current president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The exchange of statements in Évian escalates diplomatic tensions between Brasília and Washington to historic highs.