🎙️ Podcast: Can Brazil own its digital destiny?

US President Donald Trump's pressure on Brazil lays bare the importance of the country debating its safeguards for independence — not only in trade, but also in tech.

Gustavo Ribeiro, +1

Aug 26, 2025

🎙️ Podcast: The battle for control over Brazil's Congress

Brazil’s House Speaker Hugo Motta is facing pressure from all sides, and is alienating nearly everyone in the process

Gustavo Ribeiro, +1

Aug 19, 2025

🇧🇷 🇺🇲 US tariffs: Brazil is negotiating with an “elected autocracy”

Professor Filipe Campante of Johns Hopkins sees little room for success in negotiations between Brazil and the US, as only the former is following the rule of law.

Gustavo Ribeiro, +1

Jul 23, 2025

🎙️ COP30: Are locals ready to shape policies?

In this Explaining Brazil Plus episode, Lise Tupiassu of the Federal University of Pará gives us her on-the-ground perspective on what should be in the spotlight regarding COP30 in the Amazon

Isabela Cruz

Apr 23, 2025

Podcast: Penal populism, agro jobs and Bolsonaro under the knife

Rio’s mayor looks to El Salvador for inspiration on public security. Brazil’s agro jobs are less and less done on farms. And Bolsonaro goes under the knife again in a 12-hour surgery

The Brazilian Report

Apr 18, 2025

Podcast: Trump’s decline, Embraer’s rise, and Lula in a gun fight

Trump and the US become less popular in Brazil. Embraer wades into the aerial arms race. And the pro-gun caucus wants to take firearms away from Lula’s security team

The Brazilian Report

Apr 11, 2025

Podcast: Tariffs, loans and spy games

Brazil learns its tariff fate amid Trump’s Liberation Day announcement. Major demand for a new loan program offers hope for Lula’s popularity. Brazil and Paraguay get into a tangle over espionage revelations

The Brazilian Report

Apr 4, 2025

Podcast: Bolsonaro charged, egg exports rise, Brazil rethinks defense ties

The Supreme Court decides that Jair Bolsonaro will face trial over coup-plotting allegations. Brazilian producers are exporting eggs to the bird flu-hit US. And Brazil wants to chart its own course in purchasing defense tech

The Brazilian Report

Mar 28, 2025

Podcast: Tax exemptions, rate hikes and voluntary exile

Lula announces major income tax exemptions. The Central Bank hikes interest rates once more. And one of Bolsonaro’s sons flees to the US

The Brazilian Report

Mar 21, 2025

Podcast: Inflation, digital transformation and trade war frustration

Inflation data shows little in the way of good news for Brazil. The country’s planned digital currency moves through testing phases. And Trump’s metal tariffs kick in — how is Brazil going to respond?

The Brazilian Report

Mar 14, 2025

🎙️ How Brazil can navigate the Trump trade storm

This week, The Brazilian Report launches Explaining Brazil Plus, a new monthly video and podcast series featuring in-depth conversations with influential figures from Brazil and beyond

The Brazilian Report

Mar 11, 2025

Podcast: Oscar wins, fake coffee and fiscal fiascos

Brazil bags its Carnival Oscar glory with “I’m Still Here.” Consumers get rattled as “fake coffee” makes its way onto supermarket shelves. And a court precedent could spell trouble for Big Four auditors in Brazil

The Brazilian Report

Mar 7, 2025

Podcast: Carnival, cabinet and crisis

Carnival is here, and it’s big business. Lula pulls the trigger and sacks his health minister. And STEM degrees are becoming less and less common in Brazil.

The Brazilian Report

Feb 28, 2025

Podcast: Bolsonaro indictment, Trump's lawsuit and a shocking shift

Bolsonaro faces criminal charges for coup plotting. Trump’s media group is suing a Brazilian Supreme Court justice. And Brazil’s organized crime groups are expanding far beyond the drug trade

The Brazilian Report

Feb 21, 2025

Podcast: Steel, drought and neopentecostalism

How Trump’s steel tariffs are expected to affect Brazil. A year after historic floods, Rio Grande do Sul now suffers from drought. And how Brazil’s evangelical shift is changing national politics

The Brazilian Report

Feb 14, 2025

Podcast: Trade wars, health alerts and oil

As Trump's trade threats reshape global commerce, Brazil grapples with a mounting yellow fever outbreak ahead of Carnival. Meanwhile, controversial Amazon oil drilling plans gain momentum under new Senate leadership, testing the country's environmental commitments.

The Brazilian Report

Feb 7, 2025

Explaining Brazil #320: Brazil's Congress elects new leaders

The upcoming elections for the leadership positions in Congress and how they will affect Brazil’s political landscape, the tensions between the Lula administration and the far right, as well as how the new congressional outlook will affect landmark projects such as the tax reform

The Brazilian Report

Jan 31, 2025

Explaining Brazil #319: Delaying the EUDR?

The EU had approved a law demanding that products exported to the bloc would have to prove they are deforestation-free. After much adaptation and preparation, the implementation of that law has been delayed for an extra year, benefiting Brazilian commodity exporters

The Brazilian Report

Dec 11, 2024

Explaining Brazil #318: Lula in a currency chokehold

Gustavo Ribeiro

Dec 4, 2024

Explaining Brazil #317: The tax reform gridlock

Euan Marshall

Nov 27, 2024

Explaining Brazil #316: Taking stock of the G20 Summit in Rio

Euan Marshall

Nov 20, 2024

The Amazon at war

In this To Be Read episode, journalist @Marcos Colón talks to @Isabela Cruz about the existential crisis that criminals, multinationals and the state have imposed on the Amazon and its people, and what can be done in this fight for life.

Isabela Cruz

Nov 13, 2024

Explaining Brazil #315: How the U.S. election influences Latin America

Lucas Berti

Nov 5, 2024

Explaining Brazil #314: A Brazilian MAGA?

Gustavo Ribeiro

Oct 30, 2024

Explaining Brazil #312: Brazil has a gambling problem

Euan Marshall

Oct 16, 2024