More: President Luiz Incio Lula da Silva of Brazil is outraged.

President Trump is trying to push around his nation of 200 million, dangling 50 percent tariffs as a threat, Mr. Lula said in an interview. And yet, he added, the U.S. president is ignoring his government's offers to talk.

"Be sure that we are treating this with the utmost seriousness. But seriousness does not require subservience," the Brazilian president said. "I treat everyone with great respect. But I want to be treated with respect."

Mr. Lula granted his first interview to The New York Times in 13 years on Tuesday, in part because he wanted to speak to the American people about his frustration with Mr. Trump.

Mr. Trump has said that, starting on Friday, he plans to impose 50 percent tariffs on Brazilian goods, in large part because Brazilian authorities have charged former President Jair Bolsonaro with trying to hold on to power after losing the 2022 election.

Mr. Trump has called the case a "witch hunt" and wants it dropped. Mr. Lula said that was not up for negotiation. "Maybe he doesn't know that here in Brazil, the judiciary is independent," he said.

In the interview, Mr. Lula said that the American president is infringing on Brazil's sovereignty.

"At no point will Brazil negotiate as if it were a small country up against a big country," he said. "We know the economic power of the United States, we recognize the military power of the United States, we recognize the technological size of the United States."

"But that doesn't make us afraid," he added. "It makes us concerned."

There is perhaps no world leader defying President Trump as strongly as Mr. Lula.