Brazil’s Bolsonaro to meet Trump on Saturday: sources

By Lisandra Paraguassu

BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazil’s right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro is preparing to meet U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, four people familiar with the Brazilian leader’s travel plans told Reuters.

Representatives for both sides were expected to finalize the plans in a meeting at the presidential palace in Brasilia on Thursday, the sources said, requesting anonymity because the talks have not been made public.

A U.S. official confirmed to Reuters on Thursday that the two presidents were likely to meet. Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Relations declined to comment.

One of the people familiar with the matter told Reuters that Bolsonaro said he was “called” by Trump.

Last week, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said a meeting between the two leaders “was a given,” although the Brazilian government has kept the possible encounter confidential.

Asked about a meeting between the leaders at a Thursday briefing, Brazil’s presidential spokesman Otavio Rego Barros said, “There is a possibility.”

Two of the people familiar with the matter said the meeting would be closed to the press, without any public statements.

A preliminary schedule for Bolsonaro’s U.S. visit, which does not list a meeting with Trump, shows the Brazilian president in Florida from Saturday to Tuesday. He is due to meet with a senior U.S. military official, attend an investor seminar and visit a plant run by Brazilian planemaker Embraer SA.

(Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu; Editing by Tom Brown; Writing by Jake Spring; Editing by Tom Brown)