Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, said on Monday in an interview with CNN that Donald Trump “acts like an emperor” in the negotiations over tariffs imposed on Brazil, and said his government is studying which American products would go on a reciprocity list.

“It is a way of governing I do not agree with. He has a way of governing based on ‘I am the strongest, I am the most powerful, I am the richest, I can do anything, and everyone else has to obey’”, he said, according to CNN Brasil. Lula said he prefers dialogue and does not want a tariff war, but that if there is no deal, “we will have to take measures, because we have a law approved unanimously in our Congress”. Brazil notified Washington in August that it was opening proceedings under the Economic Reciprocity Law, and the two sides resumed talks on the tariffs on August 31 under Section 301 of US law. According to the Ministry of Development, Industry, Trade and Services (MDIC), the 25% and 12.5% surcharges announced in July together hit 23.1% of Brazilian exports to the United States. Lula is in New York and speaks at the opening of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly on Tuesday.