Flávio Bolsonaro said he would work with the US and China if he becomes Brazil's president, after a surprise election performance left him poised to join a wave of conservative leaders pushing Latin America closer to Washington.
"I'm not going to pick sides," Bolsonaro said at an event in Brasilia on Thursday. "My side will be the Brazilian people, whether we're dealing with China, Israel, the Middle East, Argentina or India. It doesn't matter. That's how I'm going to govern."
Bolsonaro finished ahead of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva by about 2 points in Sunday's first round election, a result that sparked a surge in Brazilian assets due to investor views that he's more likely to pursue market-friendly fiscal policies. Bolsonaro would take 52% to Lula's 48% of valid votes, excluding blank and invalid ballots, in the Oct. 25 runoff, a Datafolha poll released Thursday evening showed. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.
Victory for Bolsonaro would complete a conservative sweep of South America's major economies for right-wing allies of President Donald Trump, who has sought to reassert US influence over a Western Hemisphere that has moved increasingly closer to China. Bolsonaro, the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, has pledged to work closely with the Trump administration on trade and crime while outlining plans to join the US-led Shield of the Americas security initiative. But as president, he would assume control of an economy heavily dependent on China, which is by far Brazil's largest trading partner and the chief buyer of agricultural exports.
Source: Bloomberg Markets · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing