Germany and Brazil are significantly expanding their strategic cooperation, with a primary focus on the raw materials sector and the defense industry as both nations move to launch a series of new joint projects.

During high-level talks held on Monday, April 20, in Hannover between German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Brazilian President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva, the Brazilian Navy reached an agreement to purchase four additional frigates. These vessels will be supplied by the German shipbuilder TKMS, which is already fulfilling an existing order for four frigates for the Brazilian fleet.

The negotiations took place on the sidelines of the Hannover Messe, where Brazil is this year’s partner country, and occurred within the framework of the third Germany-Brazil intergovernmental consultations.

A primary driver behind this intensifying cooperation is the significant pressure exerted on Brazil by US President Donald Trump. Washington is currently demanding exclusive access to Brazil’s rare earth element reserves while simultaneously attempting to exert direct influence over the Brazilian presidential elections scheduled for October.

Seeking support against US interventionism, Lula has emerged as a vocal advocate for multilateralism. “Trump was not elected emperor of the world,” the Brazilian leader stated in response to the pressure from Washington.

Lula’s visit to Berlin took place against a highly sensitive political backdrop. The Trump administration has begun a process of fracturing existing regional organizations in Latin America—specifically the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC). In their place, Washington has moved to establish a new organization composed exclusively of right-wing and far-right governments: the Shield of the Americas alliance.

To date, twelve states have joined this alliance. Alongside the US, members include Argentina under Javier Milei, El Salvador under Nayib Bukele, and Ecuador under President Daniel Noboa, the heir to a vast banana industry dynasty.

Officially, the Shield of the Americas is intended to combat drug cartels. To this end, its primary focus is on military operations, mirroring recent US actions in the Caribbean. In that theater, the US military has so far conducted 52 missile strikes against vessels alleged or confirmed to be carrying narcotics, resulting in at least 180 fatalities.

Observers suspect that, in the long term, this far-right alliance is also intended to bolster Washington’s efforts to counter Chinese influence across the continent. Currently, the three most populous nations in the region—Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia—are led by left-wing or social-democratic administrations and remain outside the alliance.

This regional dynamic may be subject to change as Brazil approaches its presidential elections in October. While Lula’s candidacy has not yet been officially confirmed, his opponent is expected to be Flávio Bolsonaro, the eldest son of former President Jair Bolsonaro. The elder Bolsonaro remains in detention following an attempted coup in early 2023, while his son Eduardo, initially viewed as his political successor, resides in exile in the US amid accusations of obstructing justice.

For an extended period, Lula maintained a significant lead in the polls. However, Flávio Bolsonaro began to close the gap in late 2025, and a victory for Lula is no longer considered certain.

Trump has explicitly endorsed Flávio Bolsonaro, with whom he shares a close political affinity, as he does with the entire Bolsonaro family. Several weeks ago, Darren Beattie, an influential State Department official, attempted to visit the imprisoned Jair Bolsonaro for public relations purposes while also seeking a meeting with Flávio. The Lula administration blocked these efforts, denying Beattie entry into the country and citing blatant interference in domestic affairs.

Previously, Trump attempted to force a suspension of the criminal proceedings against Jair Bolsonaro by imposing punitive tariffs, though this effort ultimately failed.

Parallel to the escalating friction with Washington, Lula issued several sharp critiques of the Trump administration’s policies ahead of the third Germany-Brazil intergovernmental consultations, which commenced yesterday.

In an interview with Der Spiegel last week, he stated: “Trump was not elected emperor of the world. He cannot constantly threaten other countries with war.”

Lula further argued in an op-ed for the Tagesspiegel newspaper that the world is being transformed into a “single theater of war” and urgently requires “bringing under order.” He added, “I am convinced that there is no alternative to multilateralism.”

Consequently, Brazil intends to partner with Germany to inject new momentum into multilateral policy. At the opening of the Hannover Messe on Sunday, Lula described the war conducted by the US and Israel against Iran as “madness.” He noted that it is unacceptable for the world to spend approximately $2.7 trillion annually on wars while countless people continue to live in poverty or suffer from hunger.

In the spirit of a multilateral order, and to counterbalance the growing US influence over Brazil’s vital raw materials sector, Lula proposed closer cooperation with Friedrich Merz regarding mineral resources.

Brazil possesses vast quantities of raw materials, including highly sought-after rare earth elements and niobium, which is essential for the production of solar cells.

Fierce competition has erupted specifically over rare earth elements. Until now, these elements were extracted by the Brazilian company Serra Verde, which processed them in China. However, following a significant loan from the US, the company was recently forced to agree to supply rare earth elements exclusively to the US or, at most, its allies.

The implications of this agreement remain unclear, as the rights to allocate raw materials in Brazil belong to the government. The Lula administration is pushing for the establishment of rare earth processing facilities within Brazil to ensure the country controls a larger portion of the value chain. In this context, Lula suggested that German companies, alongside American and Chinese firms, participate in this process.

In addition to resource cooperation, Germany and Brazil are expanding their military and defense ties. According to the German Ministry of Defense, Minister Boris Pistorius and Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Hannover on Monday.

The MoU stipulates that Berlin and Brasília will “intensify cooperation in various sea, land, and air-based procurement projects.” This collaboration is intended to cover the “entire process” of procurement, ranging from “contract negotiations and training to the integration and operation of systems.”

Furthermore, both parties agreed on the delivery of four additional frigates to the Brazilian Navy. Germany has not traditionally been among the most prominent arms suppliers to the South American nation, as Brazil has historically sourced defense equipment from France, Italy, and the US.

However, in 2019, TKMS successfully secured a contract to deliver four MEKO A-100 class frigates to Brazil. These vessels are being constructed domestically in Brazil at Itajaí, located several hundred kilometers south of São Paulo, by the Águas Azuis consortium—a joint venture between TKMS and the Brazilian company Embraer. The Águas Azuis consortium is now preparing to build the four additional frigates, signaling a broader expansion of bilateral defense cooperation.