Brookings is reporting that Brazil's October 4 election, a contest between President Lula and Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, will shape the country's direction at home and abroad. It said Brookings experts are weighing what is at stake for U.S. relations, multilateralism, technology and education.
Brookings said crime has become a defining issue in the race, with Flávio Bolsonaro campaigning on a tough-on-crime agenda while Lula races to show results against powerful gangs. In a companion piece, Brookings scholar Vanda Felbab-Brown argues that neither candidate will give Washington the foothold it wants.
Brookings is also reporting on Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit to Washington, saying it brought plenty of pageantry, a trade truce extension and new dialogues on trade and artificial intelligence, but little movement on critical minerals, Taiwan or fentanyl. It said Brookings experts have explained what the summit means for U.S.-China relations, America's allies and the road ahead.
On its podcast The Beijing Brief, Brookings scholars Ryan Hass, Jon Czin and Kyle Chan argue that Xi got what he wanted from the visit: relief from U.S. pressure. They expect the trade truce to hold because each side needs the other's rare earths or chips, but warn that Beijing is making better use of the lull than Washington.
Brookings also cited Hass writing in The New York Times that an offer by President Donald Trump to sell weapons to China would be unsettling to American partners at the pointy edge of China's spear.
Brookings said it will host an online event Friday with former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on what comes next for U.S.-China relations. It said it will also hold an October 6 event on how China and the United States will regulate AI models for safety, and an October 13 event on whether "working-class liberalism" can heal liberal democracy.