Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva arrived in Barcelona on Friday for a two-day diplomatic gathering that placed the defence of democracy and resistance to US trade pressure at the centre of the international agenda. Meeting Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez at a former royal palace in the city, the two leaders signed a series of bilateral agreements covering the economy, technology and social policy, before joining a broader group of world leaders for a weekend of summits.

The centrepiece of the visit is the IV Meeting in Defence of Democracy, a forum launched by Brazil and Spain in 2024 to combat what its organisers describe as the "extremism, polarisation and misinformation" that threatens participatory governance. Past editions were held at the United Nations and, most recently, in Chile. Saturday's gathering brings together a notably wide coalition, including European Council President António Costa, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, and Colombian President Gustavo Petro, alongside leaders from countries as varied as Uruguay, Lithuania, Ghana and Albania. Later on Saturday, many of those same figures will remain for the inaugural Global Progressive Mobilisation, a gathering of left-leaning policymakers expected to draw around 3,000 attendees, including US Democratic Senator Chris Murphy.

Both Lula and Sánchez have been outspoken critics of US President Donald Trump, who has threatened both countries with punitive tariffs. Lula, speaking to Spanish newspaper El País ahead of the trip, was blunt in his assessment: "Trump has no right to wake up in the morning and threaten a country," he said, adding that Trump's approach — relying on economic, military and technological dominance to set global rules — ultimately creates problems for the United States itself. Despite the sharp language, Lula insisted the Barcelona summits should not be read as an anti-Trump exercise. "We are going to discuss the state of democracy, to see what went wrong and what we have to do to repair it," he said. Sánchez's government has taken its own firm stances, closing Spanish airspace to US aircraft involved in operations against Iran and barring the use of jointly operated military bases in southern Spain for actions related to that conflict.

Lula, at 80 years old and preparing to seek a fourth presidential term in October, struck a broader note on global instability, warning that the world resembles "a ship adrift" with no institution capable of guiding civilised behaviour among nations. He called for a fundamental reform of the United Nations Security Council, arguing that the geopolitical architecture of 1945 is no longer fit for purpose and that the veto power of the five permanent members should be abolished. Recalling his own country's experience, he noted that Brazil's 1988 constitution prohibits the manufacture of nuclear weapons — a commitment he described as increasingly difficult to sustain in a world where major powers continue to arm themselves. "My war is the war of argument," he said, "and I want to fight it at a negotiating table."

The gathering carries significance beyond its formal agenda. Lula and Sánchez are widely seen as standard-bearers of progressive politics on their respective continents at a moment when far-right populist movements have been gaining ground across both Latin America and Europe. The summit also follows Spain's recent diplomatic rapprochement with Mexico — King Felipe VI acknowledged that the Spanish conquest of the Americas had led to the "abuse" of native peoples — paving the way for Sheinbaum's participation. For Sánchez, the week has been particularly active: he returned only recently from a fourth visit to Beijing to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping, underscoring a broader effort to strengthen ties with non-Western partners amid shifting global alliances.