Speaking at the opening of the annual Brazil-China Business Council meeting, Ambassador Zhu Qingqiao told business leaders, senior Brazilian officials and diplomats that Beijing was committed to sustainable development and building a “world-class” business environment while jointly tackling challenges posed by an increasingly fractious global trade landscape.

In a thinly veiled broadside against the US, the diplomat also warned about “some major powers, obsessed with power supremacy” that “apply the law of the jungle”.

The event came as trade tensions between Washington and Brasilia remain unresolved following Trump’s decision to impose a 50 per cent duty on US imports of Brazilian goods in retaliation for the trial of former president Jair Bolsonaro, who was sentenced to 27 years in prison for plotting a coup in 2022.

02:13

Xi meets Lula: China, Brazil call for ‘more just’ world order amid Trump tariff turmoil

Xi meets Lula: China, Brazil call for ‘more just’ world order amid Trump tariff turmoil

The tariffs have shaken bilateral trade flows and prompted Brazil to look to China for alternative markets and investment.