Brazil welcomes China’s president for state visit as countries’ ties strengthen

China’s President Xi Jinping and Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, pose for photos during a welcoming ceremony at the Alvorada palace in Brasilia, Brazil (Eraldo Peres/AP)

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva welcomed China’s President Xi Jinping on Wednesday for a state visit at the Alvorada Palace in Brasilia, the latest sign of deepening ties between the two countries that analysts say may accelerate as Donald Trump returns to the White House in 2025.

China overtook the US as Brazil’s biggest export market in 2009. Since then, the links between the two nations have strengthened in trade and investment and on Wednesday the two leaders signed 37 agreements in areas ranging from trade and tourism to agriculture, industry, science and technology, health, energy, culture and education.