200 Years of U.S.-Brazil Partnership
Elizabeth Frawley Bagley, United States Ambassador to Brazil . This article was written especially for issue 118 of the WBO weekly newsletter, dated May 2024, 2024. To subscribe to the newsletter, enter your email in the field below.
Since my arrival in Brazil last year, I have been struck by the deep ties that bind our countries. So when I learned that May 26, 2024, would mark the 200th anniversary of our diplomatic relations, I wanted it to be a year to remember.
Our motto this year is “two great friends, one brilliant future.” We are celebrating our shared tradition of democracy, self-determination, and commitment to human rights. Presidents Lula and Biden’s launch of the Partnership for Worker’s Rights will improve working conditions, while the United States’ huge investments in Brazil—more than R$1 trillion—allow us both to prosper. The U.S.-Brazil relationship has already created more than 520,000 jobs in Brazil.
We are charting new paths for clean energy and supply chains, to address the climate crisis while ensuring future opportunity. And we are committed to supporting Brazil’s efforts to end deforestation by 2030, including through the United States Agency for International Development's $300 million investment in Amazon conservation.
The U.S. Embassy and Consulates are celebrating through events and programs that change lives. In January, we sent 46 public school students as Youth Ambassadors to the United States, building connections between our people. We have held scores of engagements with Brazilian leaders, entrepreneurs, scientists, and civil society. In February, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken joined the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in Rio de Janeiro. This month, we are celebrating at Brazil Week in New York and with the arrival of the USS George Washington aircraft carrier in Rio. To commemorate these 200 years of partnership, the Brazilian Congress is conducting its first U.S.-focused Solemn Session, while Itamaraty is holding a symposium to drive our joint efforts forward.
Still to come, we will bring talented musicians to perform in Manaus, Brasilia, Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, and cheer on Brazil’s first-ever NFL game. To close the year, we will honor the Month of African Consciousness by sponsoring a striking art exhibition that showcases the richness of our shared African heritage.
Each event represents an opportunity to forge new connections and ideas and strengthens relations between our governments and people. Because at the heart of this bicentennial is a story about people.
What does it truly mean to be friends for 200 years? In the last weeks, I hope you have seen that it means our people want to help each other. The U.S. government has provided more than five million reais in humanitarian support to Rio Grande do Sul, and delivered food, water, essential items and donations from both Brazilians and Americans to people in need. Meanwhile, American companies are stepping up to support crisis management through computing power, satellite images, generators and equipment.
Two great friends, one brilliant future. That’s what 200 years of friendship means. It means that we stand with Brazil yesterday, today, and tomorrow. And we look forward to centuries of partnership to come.
