Brazil’s Rousseff arrives in U.S. for White House meeting on Tuesday
RIO DE JANEIRO — Two of the world’s four largest democracies look to close a chapter of hard feelings today when Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff arrives in the United States for a three-day visit, capped by a meeting Tuesday with President Barack Obama at the White House.
The two leaders are expected to discuss economic and trade issues, defense cooperation, education and climate change.
The visit’s main significance, however, is symbolic, rejuvenating a relationship that has historically been one step forward, one back, long on promise but short on strategy or results.
“We still don’t understand each other very well,” said Eric Farnsworth, vice president of the Americas Society and Council of the Americas.
The visit should have happened two years ago amid warming relations between the Western Hemisphere’s two largest countries. Early in her first term, Rousseff made better relations with the U.S. a priority. She was close to awarding U.S. manufacturer Boeing a lucrative contract with Brazil’s air force.
But revelations that the National Security Agency had spied on Rousseff infuriated her, so Brazil’s first female head, who in her younger days was imprisoned and tortured by Brazil’s military dictatorship, canceled a state visit Obama had planned for her. Even her many political opponents at home supported her decision, and relations with the U.S. deteriorated.
Rousseff’s arrival this weekend — she first goes to New York to meet with investors and business leaders to discuss infrastructure projects before arriving in Washington on Monday night — is the strongest indication to date that the two countries have patched things up.
Asked about the spying at a press conference at the presidential palace in Brasilia on Thursday, Carlos Antonio da Rocha Paranhos, an official at Brazil’s Foreign Ministry, told reporters, “It is important to not make that an issue again. It has been overcome.”
Ben Rhodes, deputy national security adviser, made a similar observation in a conference call with reporters.
“We went through a very thorough review of those activities, and we worked hard, together with the Brazilian government, to address a variety of concerns, but importantly, to begin a new chapter in our bilateral relationship,” he said.
For a long time, Rousseff had insisted on a public apology from Washington. It does not seem she ever received that. “We have not made it a practice to issue apologies related to our surveillance activities,” Rhodes said.
Expectations are low for any major achievements or new agreements.
“This visit is heavy on optics and atmospherics and putting behind the Snowden affair,” Michael Shifter, president of the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington policy group, said, referring to the documents leaked by NSA contractor Edward Snowden that revealed the Rousseff phone monitoring.
The issues are longstanding ones.
They include improving access to the U.S. market for Brazilian beef producers and easing the visa process for Brazilians.