Lula, a staunch Trump critic, to make first state visit during ASEAN

Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva speaks during a meeting of the National Council for the Industrialisation of Critical and Strategic Minerals at the Planalto Palace in Brasília on November 5, 2026.

AFP / Evaristo Sa

MANILA, Philippines — Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will make a state visit to the Philippines on November 14 and 15, the first by a sitting Brazilian head of state, Malacañang said on Tuesday, November 10.

Lula, who won a fourth term in Brazil's presidential runoff last month, will join the November 15 session of the 49th ASEAN Summit as "Guest of the Chair" at the invitation of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said in a statement. 

The Philippines, which holds the ASEAN chairship this year, will host leaders from the bloc and its partner countries in Metro Manila through November 18.

Marcos will receive Lula at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City, where the two leaders will hold bilateral talks on trade and investment, agriculture, energy, science and technology, defense and technical cooperation.

The agenda also includes closer coordination in multilateral forums and among developing economies of the so-called Global South.

The trip is one of Lula's first major foreign trips since the October runoff in which he defeated Flávio Bolsonaro, son of former President Jair Bolsonaro.

Brazil became ASEAN's first Latin American "sectoral dialogue partner" in August 2022, a tier lower than the full dialogue partnerships the bloc holds with powers such as the United States, China and Japan

Foreign Affairs Secretary Theresa Lazaro in August paid a courtesy call to Lula and Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira, in which both sides discussed bilateral agreements covering cooperation in energy and tourism, among others.

There is no official confirmation yet that Lula's visit will overlap with Trump, whose attendance at the main summit from November 16 to 18 was confirmed by Malacañang in October. 

Trump has called Brazil's vote a disgrace and has questioned the result without offering evidence.