The United States was, in 1824, the second country to recognize the independence of Brazil, after Argentina did so in 1823. Brazil was the only South American nation to send troops to fight in Europe alongside the Allies in World War II.

While Brazilian-American relations have been significantly strengthened since the 1990s, there has been a period of tension in relations over the June 2013 revelation of US mass surveillance programs in Brazil after there had been proof of American spying on Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff. She cancelled a scheduled visit to the US in September 2013 in protest over such revelations. Relations have improved markedly since Rousseff's official visit on June 30, 2015, to the United States, nearly two years later. From 2016 to 2019, under Obama (and then Donald Trump) and Michel Temer, relations were still fairly positive. In 2019 with the victory of Jair Bolsonaro, the two countries approached again, signing deals in the areas of trade, research, security and defense. When Joe Biden became U.S. President in 2021, relations cooled somewhat due to political disagreements between Bolsonaro and Biden, but when Lula returned to the presidency again in late 2022, relations between the U.S. and Brazil were stabilized once more, although Biden (and later Trump) and Lula have had their share of disagreements, including Lula's stance on the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Gaza war.

The relationship between both countries represents the two most populated and powerful countries in the Americas (being the most dominant in South America and North America respectively); due to the political and economic weight of both countries worldwide, the two countries share membership in a variety of international organizations, including the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the Organization of American States, the G8+5, and the Group of 20.

Country comparison Federative Republic of Brazil United States of America Coat of Arms Flag Population 213,421,037 Area Population Density Capital Brasília Washington, D.C. Largest City São Paulo – 11,895,578 (21,518,955 Metro) New York City – 8,600,710 (19,006,798 Metro) Government Federal presidential constitutional republic Federal presidential constitutional republic First Leader Pedro I George Washington Current Leaders Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva Donald Trump Official languages Portuguese English (de facto, none at federal level) GDP (nominal) US$ 2.26 trillion ($10,585 per capita) US $31.44 trillion ($91,822 per capita)

History Early history

Before 1900, Brazil and the United States had minimal interactions and connections. Nevertheless, some notable exchanges and events did occur between the two nations. In 1822, the United States was one of the first nations to acknowledge Brazil's independence from Portugal, and this led to the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. In the mid-1800s, Brazil and the United States began to expand their trade and commerce, with Brazilian coffee exports becoming an essential commodity for American markets. Furthermore, American investors and merchants started to establish themselves in Brazil. In 1864, Brazil and the United States collaborated in a military expedition against Paraguay, which culminated in the defeat of Paraguay in 1870, strengthening the ties between the two countries. Another significant event was the overthrow of the Brazilian monarchy and the establishment of a republic in 1889, which Washington quickly recognized. This was followed by the further consolidation of ties. Although Brazil and the United States had limited interactions before 1900, these events laid the groundwork for future cooperation and engagement between the two nations.James Cameron, "US-Brazil Relations." in Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History (2019)

Following the transfer of the Portuguese royal court to Rio de Janeiro and the subsequent opening of the ports to foreign ships, the United States was, in 1815, the first country to establish a consulate in Brazil, more precisely in Recife, Pernambuco. The United States was also the second country to recognize Brazil's 1822 declaration of independence from Portugal in 1824, one year after Argentina recognized Brazil's independence. p. 518 Recognizing the independence of countries of the Americas from their European metropolises was a policy of the United States, which hoped to undermine European influence in the region.

Relations between the two countries were damaged in 1864, during the American Civil War, when a Union warship attacked and captured a Confederate warship in the Brazilian port of Bahia Harbor. This event, called the Bahia incident, led the Brazilian government to claim that the Union Navy had acted illegally and violated Brazil's neutrality.

During the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, interaction between the two was limited to multilateral fora, such as the Conference of American States. At the first Pan-American Conference in 1890, many countries of the Americas, the U.S. and Brazil included, discussed a series of regional integration projects. Those ranged from military to economic integration. The United States planned to create a Pan-American, anti-European economic bloc, a customs union. It meant to suspend external tariffs applied to inter-American trade but not to European-American trade.

In 1922, at the request of the Brazilian government, the United States established a naval mission in Brazil to advise and improve the Brazilian Navy. The initial staff of 16 officers and 19 petty officers counseled the Brazilians on such topics as gunnery, naval aviation, destroyer operations, and supply and medicine. The agreement lapsed during the Revolution of 1930, but was reestablished in 1932.

The Revolution of 1930 overthrew the oligarchic coffee plantation owners and brought to power urban middle class and business interests that promoted industrialization and modernization. Aggressive promotion of new industry turned around the economy by 1933, and encouraged American investors. Brazil's leaders in the 1920s and 1930s decided that Argentina's implicit foreign policy goal was to isolate Portuguese-speaking Brazil from Spanish-speaking neighbors, thus facilitating the expansion of Argentine economic and political influence in South America. Even worse, was the fear that a more powerful Argentine Army would launch a surprise attack on the weaker Brazilian Army. To counter this threat, Brazil forged closer links with the United States. Meanwhile, Argentina moved in the opposite direction.Stanley E. Hilton, "The Argentine Factor in Twentieth-Century Brazilian Foreign Policy Strategy." Political Science Quarterly 100.1 (1985): 27-51.

World War II

During World War II, Brazil was a staunch ally of the United States and sent its military to fight against Germany, even as German u-boats sank Brazilian shipping. The U.S. provided $100 million in Lend Lease money in return for use of airfields to ferry troops and supplies across the Atlantic, and naval bases to fight u-boats. In sharp contrast, Argentina was officially neutral and at times favored Germany.Stanley E. Hilton, "Brazilian Diplomacy and the Washington-Rio de Janeiro 'Axis' during the World War II Era," Hispanic American Historical Review (1979) 59#2 pp. 201-231 in JSTOR

Brazil–U.S. interactions increased during World War II. In 1942, during the first Getúlio Vargas presidential mandate (1930–1945), Brazil made some contributions to the Allies—the United States, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom—against the Axis powers. This led to the creation of the Joint Brazil–U.S. Defense Commission, which was chaired by Major General James Garesche Ord and worked to strengthen military ties between the two countries, reducing the likelihood of Axis attacks on US shipping as soldiers traveled across the Atlantic to Africa and Europe, and minimizing the influence of the Axis in South America.Stetson Conn, Byron Fairchild, Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army, The Framework of Hemisphere Defense, 1960, page 319

As a consequence Japan's blocking US access to rubber in Malaysia of the Brazil-United States Political-Military Agreement during the war,"Brazil 'rubber soldiers' fight for recognition - Americas - International Herald Tribune", by Larry Rohter, The New York Times, October 13, 2006 (retrieved Feb 11, 2013) the "rubber soldiers"—about 55,000 people, mostly transferred from the drought-stricken Northeast of Brazil—were compulsorily drafted to harvest rubber in the Amazon, contributing to the second rubber boom in Brazil."Exército da borracha", Época, March 26, 2004 (retrieved February 12, 2013)

Brazil temporarily conceded the U.S. some space in Northeastern Brazil so the North American nation could launch its planes to fight the Axis in Europe and Africa (the Brazilian northeastern coastline is the easternmost point in the Americas). In 1944, Brazil also sent the Brazilian Expeditionary Force to be commanded by the U.S. army in Europe. Vargas was pleased by Franklin Roosevelt's promise that Brazil would be granted a permanent seat at the U.N. Security Council, a promise the U.S. was later unable to fulfill due to resistance from the Soviet Union and the U.K.

The presidency of Eurico Gaspar Dutra (1946–51) opened a brief period of democratic rule after ousting of Getúlio Vargas. During the Dutras administration, Brazil's foreign policy was aligned closely with that of the United States. Dutra outlawed the Brazilian Communist Party (PCB) in 1947 and broke off relations with the Soviet Union. In contradiction to the economic nationalism of his predecessor, he opened the country for foreign, mostly U.S., investments. Getúlio Vargas's return to power in 1951—now in democratic fashion—however, signaled a cooling of relations and a return to economic nationalism. Vargas blamed the U.S. for his ouster in 1945 and appealed to Brazilian nationalism, a sentiment that was growing in many sectors, including the armed forces. In the new Vargas mandate, the old tensions with foreign capital returned in full force—specially after he tried to implement a bill that precluded 90% of the capital produced in the country from being sent to international banks. As a result of the many scandals in his second mandate—corruption scandals, tensions with the military etc.—Vargas killed himself in 1954. He left behind a suicide letter, the Carta testamento, in which he points to media denigration and pressure from foreign banks as the blame for his depression and death.

Cold War and military dictatorship in Brazil

In 1956 Juscelino Kubitschek took office (1956–1961). Like Vargas, Kubitschek had a pro-industries economic policy. He named it "national developmentalism." But unlike Vargas's plan (and in spite of the policy's own name), Kubitschek's was open to investments by foreign capital. Though he strengthened relations with Latin America and Europe, Kubitschek also sought to improve ties with the United States. His economic policy attracted huge direct investments by foreign capital, much of which came from the U.S. He also proposed an ambitious plan for United States development aid in Latin America, the Pan-American Operation. The outgoing administration of President Dwight Eisenhower found the plan of no interest, but the administration of President John F. Kennedy appropriated funds in 1961 for the Alliance for Progress.