The United States has revoked the visa of Brazil's ambassador to Washington, Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, in a significant escalation of the bilateral dispute between the Trump administration and the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The State Department confirmed the move on Tuesday, framing it as a reciprocal measure in response to Brazil's delay in granting formal diplomatic approval — known as agrément — to Washington's nominated ambassador to Brasília, Daniel Perez, and to Brazil's refusal last month to issue visas to two senior US diplomats.
The revocation does not amount to an expulsion. Viotti, a former chief of staff to the United Nations secretary-general, remains on US soil, though without a valid visa and, according to the State Department, unable to perform her official duties. Washington has warned that further action remains possible if Brazil continues to withhold approval of Perez, a former speaker of the Florida House of Representatives and a close ally of Secretary of State Marco Rubio. "We communicated continually with the Brazilian government for weeks and have given the Brazilian government every opportunity to do the right thing, yet they have continually delayed and obfuscated," a State Department spokesperson said.
Brasília swiftly rejected Washington's justifications as false, accusing the Trump administration of attempting to interfere in Brazil's presidential election, scheduled for 4 October. Lula's government pointed to a significant procedural breach: the White House publicly announced Perez's nomination before formally seeking Brazil's consent, violating a standard diplomatic convention under which the sending country consults the host nation privately before any public announcement. Brazil also noted that Perez has not yet been confirmed by the US Senate. "The agrément process is confidential, and the designated name should only become public after consent is granted," the Brazilian government said in an official statement. Brasília added that no deadline exists under the Vienna Convention for granting agrément, and that, internally, approving the nomination now would be seen as yielding to coercion.
Diplomatic experts from both countries have described the visa revocation as anomalous and disproportionate. American and Brazilian diplomats told the Brazilian newspaper Folha de S.Paulo that it typically takes the United States itself at least two to three months to process agrément requests — roughly the same time that has elapsed since Perez's nomination. There is no known precedent of a country revoking an ambassador's visa over a delay in granting agrément, a step normally reserved for cases of expulsion.
The confrontation is unfolding against a backdrop of deepening tensions between the two largest economies in the Western Hemisphere. The Trump administration has imposed tariffs of up to 37.5% on thousands of Brazilian exports, classified two major Brazilian drug-trafficking organisations as foreign terrorist organisations, and clashed repeatedly with Lula over Latin American politics, Venezuela and Cuba. The election campaign adds further sensitivity: Lula, 80, is seeking a fourth non-consecutive term against Flávio Bolsonaro, son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, a figure with close political ties to Trump. Brasília has accused Washington of trying to tip the electoral scales, while the State Department insists it seeks only to restore a "normal, productive, transparent relationship" with Brazil.