Brazil’s Lula says Trump is attempting to ‘create a new UN’

Lula’s comments come as Trump invites war crimes suspect Netanyahu to join ‘Board of Peace’.Published On 24 Jan 2026Brazilian President Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva has accused his United States counterpart Donald Trump of wanting to create “a new UN”, days after the US president launched his new “Board of Peace” initiative in Switzerland.“Instead of fixing” the United Nations, “what’s happening? President Trump is proposing to create a new UN where only he is the owner,” Lula said in a speech on Friday.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Trump launches Board of Peace at signing ceremony in Davoslist 2 of 4Why did Israel join Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ after raising objections?list 3 of 4Trump revokes Canada’s invitation to join Board of Peacelist 4 of 4‘Imperial’ agenda: What’s Trump’s Gaza development plan, unveiled in Davos?end of listSpeaking in Rio Grande do Sul, Lula also said that Trump “wants to run the world through Twitter”.“It’s remarkable. Every day he says something, and every day the world is talking about what he said,” Lula said, according to Brazil’s Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper.Lula defended multilateralism against what he called “the law of the jungle” in global affairs and warned that “the UN charter is being torn”.Lula’s remarks come a day after he spoke by phone with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who urged his Brazilian counterpart to safeguard the “central role” of the UN in international affairs.His comments also come as the White House withdraws the US from dozens of UN bodies and Trump launches his “Board of Peace”, while imposing his “America First” agenda on global politics and trade through tariffs and military threats to such a degree that allies of Washington question whether they can now trust the US.Trump launched the board with a signing ceremony in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday, during the annual summit of the World Economic Forum, another international body that has increasingly presented itself as an alternative to the UN system.