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JBS co-owner met US president three weeks ago

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Meeting may have influenced Trump stance on Brazil,

sources say

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Trump praised President Lula at UN

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JBS subsidiary donated $5 million to Trump inauguration

By Luciana Magalhaes and Bernardo Caram

SAO PAULO, Sept 25 (Reuters) - A co-owner of Brazilian

meatpacking giant JBS met privately with U.S. President Donald

Trump about three weeks before Trump extended a surprise olive

branch to Brazil's president in his United Nations speech on

Tuesday, three people with knowledge of the encounter told

Reuters.

That meeting helped pave the way for Trump to take a more

favorable tone towards Lula at the U.N., two of the sources

said.

On Tuesday, Trump praised Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula

da Silva, despite months of sparring between the two leaders

over what the White House has called a "witch hunt" in Brazil

against a Trump ally.

"We had a good talk, and we agreed to meet next week," Trump

said. "At least for about 39 seconds, we had excellent

chemistry," he added.

In July, the White House imposed 50% tariffs on most Brazilian

imports, including meat, potentially jarring the supply chain

for food companies including JBS and its subsidiary Pilgrim's

Pride.

It was in the following weeks that JBS co-owner Joesley

Batista managed to set up a meeting with Trump, first reported

by newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo.

JBS declined to comment, and the White House did not

immediately respond to a request for comment.

According to one of the people with knowledge of the

conversation, Batista told Trump that the tariffs he had imposed

on Brazilian products were making beef too expensive for

Americans.

The levies were cited by the White House as retaliation against

what Trump believed to be an unfair persecution of former

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, a right-wing firebrand who

this month was convicted of plotting a coup to remain in power

after he lost the 2022 election.

OTHER MEETINGS

JBS became a publicly traded company in the United

States in June, a move into the American market that added

exposure for the company to White House policy.

Pilgrim's Pride, its poultry producer subsidiary, gave a $5

million donation to the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee, saying

it had a "long bipartisan history of participating in the civic

process."

Joesley and his brother Wesley Batista also have been seen with

Lula at public events several times. Loans from Brazil's

development bank to JBS under a previous Lula administration

helped it grow into the world's biggest meatpacker.

The Batistas later admitted to bribing 1,800 politicians as

part of a sprawling anti-corruption probe.

JBS has said that meetings with public officials adhere to

its code of conduct.

Other business leaders from Brazil have been meeting with

Trump administration officials in recent weeks to lobby for

lower tariffs.

Embraer ( ERJ ) Chief Executive Francisco Gomes Neto told

Reuters earlier this month that he was trying to arrange

meetings to discuss tariffs on the planemaker's products.

The company scored a victory when the White House excluded

plane parts from the 50% levies imposed on most Brazilian goods.

But 10% tariffs still apply to Embraer's ( ERJ ) products.

Neither Brazil nor U.S. officials have shared any further

details about a possible Trump-Lula meeting next week.

But Lula told reporters in New York on Wednesday that he was

willing to meet with Trump in person, and that they would put

"everything on the table."

"What once seemed impossible stopped being impossible and

actually happened," Lula said.