Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva today urged countries affected by the tariff hikes of his US counterpart, Donald Trump, to respond reciprocally.

In the president’s opinion, the criterion of reciprocity should be applied and similar measures should be decreed for US products, he said during a press conference in the capital at the end of his official visit to Japan, where he met with the highest authorities of the government of this Asian nation.

The American president is not the sheriff of the world, he is only the president of the United States, declared Lula after expressing concern about the effects on free trade of the new tariffs decreed by the US president, which will come into force next week.

At the same time, he criticised Trump’s lack of vision, assuring that the 25 percent increase in tariffs on cars bought from Japan, a country with a powerful automobile industry, will only lead to higher prices for American consumers and a rise in inflation.

According to the Brazilian head of state, no consequences of this imposition could be good for the economy and, on the contrary, it endangers multilateralism.

In the event that Brazil is affected by the new tariff measures, Lula said he was prepared to apply reciprocity.