Before a country sends an ambassador, it asks the host government whether the candidate is acceptable. The question is called the agrément, and the answer is almost always yes, because a no is close to a declaration of hostility. Brazil has not said no to Daniel Perez, the man President Trump nominated in June to be ambassador in Brasilia. It has simply said nothing, and for Washington, the silence is the insult.
The snub began with a protocol breach. Perez, a Florida state representative and close ally of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, was nominated on June 1 before Washington sought Brazil’s approval, according to four people familiar with the matter. In Brasilia, officials read the order of events as disrespect, a signal that the United States considered Brazilian consent a formality. The nomination has since passed a Senate committee and awaits a full vote, but Perez cannot take up the post until Brazil grants its approval. Weeks have passed. The approval has not come.
Washington’s patience is visibly thin. US officials are increasingly exasperated at what they call Brazil’s slow-walking, and one person familiar with the matter said the administration could take punitive action as soon as the end of this week if the matter is not resolved. The State Department is not hiding its view. A spokesperson said President Trump has the right to determine who represents the American people and interests around the world, and that Washington rejects any effort by foreign countries to interfere in its domestic processes.
Brazil is unmoved. Officials say Perez is being vetted in line with standard procedure, and one of them said Brazil was not ruling out the agrément but had set no deadline, and that it was up to the host country to decide when the appropriate time was. Another official said the approval will probably not come before Brazil’s presidential election on October 4. The foreign ministry says only that the process is confidential under the Vienna Convention.
Behind the protocol fight sits a larger collision. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is seeking a fourth non-consecutive term in October, running against Flavio Bolsonaro, the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who presents himself as Trump’s ally. National sovereignty is Lula’s campaign theme. The Americans have handed him material: this month Washington imposed a 25 percent tariff on several Brazilian products, followed by an additional 12.5 percent levy tied to forced-labor concerns. In June the State Department designated two Brazilian organized crime groups as terrorist organizations over Brazil’s objections. Days ago, Brazil denied visas to two Trump administration officials who planned to travel to the country to cast doubt on the integrity of its electoral system.
Seen from Brasilia, the agrément is the one lever a smaller country holds over a superpower: the right to say who represents it. Lula is using that lever in an election year, and Perez, who told senators at his hearing that Brazil’s election would be his early priority, is standing in the middle of the collision. His confirmation would hand Washington an ambassador just as the campaign reaches its most heated stretch, and Brasilia has made clear it sees no reason to hurry.
The empty chair in Brasilia is the visible symbol of a relationship that has stopped speaking the same diplomatic language. Tariffs, terrorist designations, visa denials, accusations of interference: the list of grievances runs both ways, and the ambassador’s post has become another line item. For now, Brazil holds the better hand. The agrément is a one-word veto, and silence is the most polite way to use it. Washington may fume, may even retaliate, but it cannot force a host country to welcome its envoy. The courtesy was skipped once. Brazil is making sure the snub costs something.