BRAZIL/G7/NATURAL DISASTERS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump offered Friday to help Brazil contain forest fires raging in the Amazon rain forest, putting him at odds with a key ally going into the weekend’s G7 meeting…The goodwill message comes after reports of French President Emmanuel Macron’s plans to oppose a long-anticipated trade deal involving Brazil as a result of President Jair Bolsonaro’s role in deforestation in his country. Bolsonaro — a right-wing populist who has repeatedly moved to undermine his country’s environmental protections — has advocated reclaiming the Amazon to exploit its natural resources. He has blamed without evidence advocacy groups of starting the fires to soil his name. Macron said on Twitter that he wanted to discuss the fires during this weekend’s G7 summit in France. Brazil is not a member of the exclusive group, and Bolsonaro said on Twitter that the idea of the G7 discussing his country’s domestic affairs was ‘colonialist.'”
–Matthew Choi, “Trump offers Brazil help with Amazon fires,” Politico, August 23, 2019 6:51 pm