Trump informed the US Congress that he would designate Brazil as a "strategic military ally outside of NATO"

Donald Trump has sent a letter to the US Congress to inform him of his intention to designate Brazil as an important non-NATO ally. "I make this designation in recognition of recent commitments by the Brazilian government to increase defense cooperation with the United Statesand in recognition of our national interest to strengthen our defense coordination with Brazil, "said the President.

Trump had already argued that he planned to grant this advantage to Brazil during a visit to the White House in March from his Brazilian counterpart, Jair Bolsonaro.and today he has informed Congress of his intention to do so.

Under the law, the president must inform Congress at least 30 days before designating a country as a strategic military ally outside of NATO. However, Technically, Trump will be free to grant this special status to Brazil as of June 7th.

Brazil will become the second country in Latin America, after Argentinaand only in the eighteenth of the world that ranks as a strategic military ally of the United States outside of NATO. This denomination opens the door to the surrender of surplus elements of the defense and to the organization of joint maneuvers with the United States.

When he received Bolsonaro in March, Trump even opened the door to negotiating Brazil's entry into NATO, although he said he "should" talk to a lot of people "to get into the Atlantic Alliance.

His message today suggests that he has finally decided, at least for the moment, to limit himself to the granting of this special status to Brazil, a country with which the new leader, Trump, feels a particular affinity.

The president has also supported the Brazilian membership campaign to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), considered as the club of the rich countries, a process that may take years but that Bolsonaro wants to accelerate with the formal support from the United States. .