bjbjLULU JEFFREY BROWN: Next tonight, the leader of Latin America's biggest and richest
country visits the White House.
Margaret Warner has the story.
MARGARET WARNER: A country once best known by Americans for postcard-perfect beaches
and a passion for the game of soccer, Brazil has emerged as a powerhouse competitor in
the global economy, achieving the number six world GDP ranking this year.
Along with Russia, India and China, it's part of the so- called BRIC club of rapidly developing
economies.
Now this country of 200 million, Latin America's largest, is demanding to be taken more seriously
on the world political stage as well.
And, today, President Dilma Rousseff was given a cordial welcome by President Obama at the
White House.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: I'm -- feel very fortunate to have such a capable and far-sighted partner
as President Rousseff.
DILMA ROUSSEFF, President of Brazil (through translator): The U.S.-Brazil bilateral relations
are, for Brazil, a very important relationship, not only from a bilateral but also from a
multilateral perspective.
MARGARET WARNER: But though the hemisphere's two biggest democracies should be natural
allies, they often don't see eye to eye.
PETER HAKIM, president emeritus, Inter-American Dialogue: It would certainly be hard to say
the U.S. and Brazil are adversaries or in conflict, but the fact is, they disagree more
than they agree.
MARGARET WARNER: Peter Hakim is senior fellow and president emeritus at Inter-American Dialogue
in Washington.
PETER HAKIM: Americans and Brazilians love to talk about a strategic relationship.
Yet, the U.S. rarely consults with Brazil on the important global issues.
MARGARET WARNER: That shouldn't be surprising, given Brazil's history of being a thorn in
the U.S. side.
In 2010, then President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva tried to broker a deal with Turkey on
Iran's nuclear program and derail Secretary of State Clinton's push for U.N. sanctions
against Tehran.
Brazil has staked out positions contrary to Washington's on Cuba, climate change, and
the 2009 coup in Honduras as well.
PETER HAKIM: Brazil is in many respects still learning what it means to be a global power.
And the way it's been successful, ironically, is not by joining with the United States,
which would have been one route, but rather in opposition to the United States, that it
sort of has gained its international prestige precisely by showing its independence of the
United States.
MARGARET WARNER: When Dilma Rousseff won Brazil's 2010 presidential election campaign, Washington
had high hopes she would be easier to work with than her one-time boss and mentor Lula.
The former Marxist-guerrilla-turned-technocrat has been less assertive and flamboyant on
the global stage.
Noted Eurasia group analyst Joao Augusto de Castro Neves.
JOAO AUGUSTO DE CASTRO NEVES, analyst, Eurasia Group: President Dilma's foreign policy is
a little bit less rhetorical or ideological than President Lula's, her predecessor, was.
I think that in the sense that more risk-averse diplomacy, that more conservative in some
sense diplomacy is good for not only relations with Brazil and the United States, but actually
for Brazil's goals abroad.
MARGARET WARNER: President Obama made a point of visiting Brazil just two months after Rousseff
took office.
But it wasn't long before Rousseff was renewing Brazil's call for greater global recognition.
She used her first appearance at the U.N. General Assembly last fall to declare that
Brazil and other emerging powers like India should have permanent seats on the Security
Council.
DILMA ROUSSEFF (through translator): It is not possible, Mr. President, to delay this
any more.
The world needs a Security Council that reflects the contemporary reality we're living in,
a council that includes new permanent and non-permanent members.
MARGARET WARNER: President Obama endorsed another BRIC country, India's bid for a seat
in 2010, but has not done the same for Brazil.
And that's galling to Brazilians.
JOAO AUGUSTO DE CASTRO NEVES: What Brazil expects from the U.S. today, I think, is a
treatment similar that the U.S. has with China and India, with other big, large, rising countries.
And Brazil thinks that it holds many credentials to be in that seat, to have that permanent
seat.
And it's quite puzzling in Brazil to try to understand, why hasn't this endorsement come?
MARGARET WARNER: Peter Hakim said it reflects Washington's general lack of attention to
all of Latin America.
PETER HAKIM: Brazil is in a region that's not a central priority of the administration
of the United States.
It's not in a region that has any urgency.
Now, Latin America has been relatively successful.
And it's becoming a middle class.
There's no open conflicts in the region.
And, my God, we have so many conflicts in so many other places.
Latin America, we don't have to really worry about a whole lot.
MARGARET WARNER: Paulo Sotero, director of the Woodrow Wilson Center's Brazil Institute,
believes the slight is a source of real tension in the relationship.
PAULO SOTERO, director, Woodrow Wilson Center's Brazil Institute: Brazil has always had this
aspiration to sit at the table.
MARGARET WARNER: What does this say to Brazil and to Latin America that President Obama
isn't ready to endorse that?
PAULO SOTERO: It says that -- well, that the United States is not ready to recognize Brazil's
role.
It pays lip service to it from time to time.
President Obama needs to recognize that Brazil's rise is real.
I think that he doesn't.
MARGARET WARNER: None of that political tension was apparent today.
Both leaders stressed basic economic issues.
BARACK OBAMA: Brazil's been a extraordinary leader in biofuels and obviously is also becoming
a world player when it comes to oil and gas development.
And the United States is not only a potential large customer to Brazil, but we think that
we can cooperate closely on a whole range of energy projects together.
MARGARET WARNER: Rousseff spoke bluntly about the blowback on developing countries from
the monetary policies of the U.S. and Europe.
DILMA ROUSSEFF (through translator): They lead to a depreciation in the value of the
currencies of developed countries, thus impairing growth outlooks in emerging countries.
MARGARET WARNER: Brazilian journalist Luciana Coelho said the tone is in keeping with each
leader's cool, businesslike personality.
LUCIANA COELHO, Brazilian journalist: I don't think we will be seeing something like President
Bush and President Lula, you know, the two guys who could go for a beer.
I would never imagine President Rousseff going for a beer with President Obama.
But she's a very focused and hands on-person.
And I think people in Brazil like that.
MARGARET WARNER: Rousseff will concentrate on addressing what's been a sudden economic
slowdown at home, Sotero predicts, with less time for diplomatic adventures abroad like
Lula's bid to get in the Iran game.
PAULO SOTERO: I believe that you will not see Brazil doing the same type of initiative
under President Dilma Rousseff.
Dilma Rousseff I think understands that Brazil's presence and influence in the world depends
much more on what happens in Brazil.
MARGARET WARNER: Rousseff left the White House today with deals on expanding economic, education
and energy cooperation, but without support for a Security Council seat.
One administration official described the evolving relationship as a slow courtship,
saying you can't expect a great leap forward from any single visit.
That's a law, said Castro Neves.
JOAO AUGUSTO DE CASTRO NEVES: These two countries could have a -- could do a lot, much more
than they do today.
The agenda is not as ambitious as it should be.
MARGARET WARNER: So a missed opportunity?
JOAO AUGUSTO DE CASTRO NEVES: It's a missed opportunity.
Or some people would say it's benign indifference.
MARGARET WARNER: For these two leaders, preoccupied with more pressing problems, this step-by-step
diplomacy might be the most that can be expected for now.
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