Lula’s comments during a nationally televised speech were the latest in series of tense exchanges between the leaders, with the US president launching especially blistering attacks on the government in Brasilia.

Trump announced on July 9 his intention to slap steep tariffs on Brazil as punishment for what he termed a “witch hunt” against his far-right ally, former president Jair Bolsonaro.

The United States has also said it is investigating Brazil’s “unfair trading practices,” and Brasilia said it was committed to negotiations.

The tariffs on all products from Brazil would kick in on August 1 if Brasilia and Washington do not reach an agreement.

In his speech, leftist leader Lula slammed Brazilian politicians who back Trump’s policies as “traitors to the homeland.”

He said he would continue “betting on good commercial and diplomatic relations” but warned: “Brazil has only one owner: the Brazilian people.”

Bolsonaro is facing trial over accusations he plotted a coup after his narrow 2022 election loss to Lula. If found guilty, he could face up to 40 years in prison.

Earlier on Thursday, Trump posted a letter addressed to Bolsonaro on his Truth Social platform in which he insisted Lula’s government “changes course” and “stop attacking” his political ally.

“I have seen the terrible treatment you are receiving at the hands of an unjust system turned against you,” Trump wrote to Bolsonaro.

“I have strongly voiced my disapproval both publicly and through our Tariff policy,” he added.

Trump also said he was “concerned about the attacks on free speech” in Brazil and in the United States.

He appeared to be alluding to the suspension in Brazil of Rumble, a video-sharing platform popular among conservative groups, over its refusal to block a user accused of spreading disinformation.

‘Interference’

Trump’s intervention in the Bolsonaro case has improved Lula’s popularity, who has appealed for national unity in the face of US “interference.”

Unlike the tariffs Trump is slapping on economies around the world, including top US allies, the measures against Brazil were announced in openly political terms.

Brazil had not been among dozens of trade partners previously threatened with duties above a 10 percent baseline.

The United States runs a goods trade surplus with Brazil, which said it had repeatedly requested that Washington point out areas of particular concern.

Brazil expressed “indignation” at the stiff proposed tariff in a letter addressed to US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.

On Tuesday, Nationgate admitted that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) raided the premises of NationGate Solution, a wholly-owned subsidiary, as part of an ongoing investigation into scrap metal smuggling. 

Nationgate’s shares fell 14% on Tuesday to reach 1.45 Malaysian ringgit ($0.34). Shares pared back losses over the rest of the week, but are still down over 10% from Tuesday. 

On Thursday, NationGate stated that the raids did not involve any specific board members or senior management, and that the company didn’t expect a significant hit to its finances or operations. 

The company did not immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment.

Malaysia’s state news agency Bernama reported on Tuesday that the MACC launched a crackdown on scrap metal smuggling syndicates operating in five states that have resulted in an estimated tax revenue loss of 950 million Malaysian ringgit ($223.9 million). The report added that preliminary investigations revealed these syndicates exported scrap metal to India, China and other countries but reported them as machinery or other metals not subject to the 15% export tax imposed by the government.

NationGate, ranked No. 243 on the Southeast Asia 500, was the fastest-growing company on Fortune’s ranking of the region’s largest companies by revneue. 2024 sales surged 720% to reach 5.3 billion Malaysian ringgit ($1.6 billion), largely thanks to surging growth in its data computing segment.

NationGate is the only company in Southeast Asia that assembles Nvidia’s highly sought-after graphic processing units (GPUs) into AI servers. Nvidia’s GPUs are the most used in high-performance AI applications.

But the AI boom and the link to Nvidia are also a risk for NationGate. In early March, Malaysia and neighboring Singapore faced U.S. allegations of being channels for controlled chips to make their way to China. U.S. officials were reportedly interested in whether DeepSeek, the scrappy Chinese AI startup, got its hands on Nvidia processors it wasn’t supposed to have.

Singapore’s Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam said in March that servers containing chips subject to U.S. export controls appeared to have been sent to Malaysia. Malaysia’s Trade Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz then said officials were investigating and vowed to take necessary action.

Separately, Singapore has also charged three men with fraud for allegedly misrepresenting the end-user of computer servers that may contain Nvidia chips. 

On Monday, Malaysia announced that all exports of high-performance U.S. AI chips will now require permits for exports, and that individuals and companies must notify the government at least 30 days prior to shipping such hardware.

NationGate has distanced itself from the subject and has clarified that it’s not involved in any investigations. Yet investors are still spooked. NationGate’s shares are down over 40% year-to-date.  

I had a chance to speak with several business leaders at a roundtable convened by Edward Jones Managing Partner Penny Pennington recently at the Aspen Ideas Festival. Her concern was, “how do we help future generations build wealth in this uncertain economy?” With challenges like high home prices and an uncertain job market, she takes a holistic view of the customer. “We’re a health and wellbeing company.”

The theme of investing took many forms. Bev Anderson, CEO of BECU credit union, focused on creating financial opportunities, while Gallup CEO Jon Clifton talked about the need for better global indicators of how we feel amid a rise in negative emotions. Southern Company CEO Chris Womack is expanding his energy infrastructure amid surging demand at the country’s second-largest utility. Optimism about the power of technology and innovation was mixed with worries about geopolitics and the state of civil society.

In an era of growing complexity and rapid change, face-to-face conversations have become even more important for sharing ideas and building trusted relationships.  That’s why the dinners hosted by CEO Initiative members around the country have been so valuable. It’s why I’m excited by our upcoming Fortune Global Forum on October 26 and 27 in Riyadh.

Among the CEOs who have confirmed their attendance, so far, are Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon, Ed Bastian of Delta Air Lines, Tony Elumelu of United Bank for Africa, Jane Fraser of Citigroup, Mahindra & Mahindra Anish Shah, Catherine MacGregor of ENGIE, Honeywell’s Vimal Kapur, Gilberto Tomazoni of JBS, and Jenny Johnson of Franklin Templeton. You can find out more here and click here if you’d like to apply to attend.

Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at diane.brady@fortune.com

Top news

Trump reportedly sent Epstein a birthday note

According to a must-read investigation by the WSJ, the note to Jeffrey Epstein featured a cartoon of a naked woman and said, “Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.” The president denied writing the letter. “This is not me. This is a fake thing. It’s a fake Wall Street Journal story,” he said. On social media, he added, “I don’t draw pictures. I told Rupert Murdoch it was a Scam, that he shouldn’t print this Fake Story. But he did, and now I’m going to sue his ass off, and that of his third rate newspaper.” He also asked the attorney general to release “any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subject to Court approval,” on Epstein. Here is a timeline of the relationship between Trump and Epstein.

How Sam Altman became Trump’s best AI buddy

Initially cut out of the president’s circle by Elon Musk, Altman has been quietly cultivating his relationship with the president, the WSJ reports. With Musk out of the way, Altman is now more influential in the White House. The maneuvering required Altman to renounce his former public dislike of Trump. 

Trump vs. corn syrup

President Trump’s announcement Wednesday claiming that Coca-Cola would substitute corn syrup for raw sugar in their products “cost thousands of American food manufacturing jobs … all with no nutritional benefit,” the CEO of the Corn Refiners Association said on Wednesday. The announcement also caused significant dips in the stock prices of some corn syrup manufacturers between Wednesday and Thursday.

Morgan Stanley on tariffs

Morgan Stanley’s head of US policy, Monica Guerra, describes President Trump’s tariffs as a “mosaic” and “idiosyncratic.” Here’s how much she thinks they’ll bring to the U.S. Treasury—and how they could fuel higher inflation. 

Europe tightens sanctions on Russia

The EU will impose a new set of sanctions on Russia targeting its oil, gas and banking sectors. Twenty more banks will be cut from the SWIFT payments system and there will be new restrictions on Russian oil refined outside of Russia.

Meta poaches more AI talent from Apple

Former Apple employees Mark Lee and Tom Gunter will join Meta’s Superintelligence Labs, according to Bloomberg. They will join Ruoming Pang, the former head of Apple’s large language model unit, who joined Meta a few weeks ago. Pang was reportedly offered $200 million in compensation to make the move.

Deep dive on the growth of private credit

JPMorgan recently dedicated $50 billion to debt financing for clients doing acquisitions and other deals. Apollo, Ares, and KKR are extending credit that they originate independently to lock in borrowers for years. In exchange for tying up that long-term money, borrowers are willing to pay higher interest rates than they would get from banks.

Fortune 500 Power Moves

• Kenvue (No. 281) appointed Kirk L. Perry as interim CEO, effective July 14, following the sudden resignation of former CEO Thibaut Mongon. Perry most recently served as President and CEO of Circana. 
• Henry Schein (No. 333) announced that Stanley M. Bergman will retire as CEO at the end of the year. Schein’s departure comes after 45 years at the company and 35 years as CEO. 
• Old Republic International (No. 463) appointed Alan Pavlic as CEO, effective immediately. Pavlic joined the company in 2005 and has served as President since 2013. 

The markets

S&P 500 futures ticked up 0.14% this morning, premarket. The index closed up 0.54% yesterday. STOXX Europe 600 was up 0.4% in early trading. The UK’s FTSE 100 was up 0.32% this morning, placing it above 9,000, which would be an all-time high if it holds. China’s CSI 300 was up 0.6%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was down 0.21%. Bitcoin is still above $118K.

From the analysts

ING on the Fed: “Firmer retail sales and subdued jobless claims numbers suggest the Fed will keep rates on hold for now as officials assess the impact of tariffs on inflation,” per James Knightley.

Oxford Economics on jobless claims: “Continued claims continued their march higher in the week July 5, underscoring how unemployed workers are finding it difficult to find new jobs in a labor market where hiring is slow. Claims for benefits by federal employees posted the largest one-week increase since February. We expect these claims will rise further now that Supreme Court has cleared the way to proceed with layoffs of federal workers while legal challenges continue,” Nancy Vanden Houten.

WARC on Reddit’s revenue and user growth: “Reddit has demonstrated remarkable year-on-year growth with global advertising revenue projected to reach $1.8 billion in 2025 (+49.6%) and grow to $2.5 billion by 2026 (+39.0%), positioning itself as a formidable competitor to established Big Tech and digital platforms. … The platform’s advertising reach has grown to 606 million users — representing nearly one in 14 people worldwide, according to Datareportal analysis, surpassing X’s reach (586 million) and approaching Snapchat (709 million).”

Around the watercooler

Amazon Ring’s founder is back as CEO with a hard pivot to AI. How Jamie Siminoff went from ‘Shark Tank’ reject to $1 billion brand by Sydney Lake

The safety net companies put in place for themselves to stave off higher prices induced by tariffs is fraying by Paolo Confino

How much is AI really replacing jobs? Goldman Sachs looks under the hood and has 3 takeaways to defuse the hype by Nick Lichtenberg and Fortune Intelligence

Coinbase’s new super app Base is a game changer—and could become a serious money maker by Jeff John Roberts

CEO Daily is compiled and edited by Joey Abrams and Jim Edwards.