Lula Meets New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani Over Cost Of Living And Housing

Cost of living focus

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva met New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani at the residence of Brazil’s delegation to the United Nations in the Upper East Side, with rising cost of living and household pressures as a central focus of the talks. Lula told reporters, “The first question I asked was whether New York has the same social problems as the other cities in the world,” and he added, “in every city in the world, the poor suffer.” Mamdani said he would seek to borrow elements from Lula’s social policies to tackle New York’s economic problems, including pressure on households from food prices and, in particular, housing.

““We live in the most expensive city in the United States and the third most expensive in the world. One in four New Yorkers lives in poverty.””

ANSA Latina

Lula and Mamdani also discussed the political dimension of their respective election calendars, with Brazil’s first presidential election round set for October 4 and the United States midterm elections in November. Mamdani and Lula ended their meeting by exchanging football jerseys, with Lula giving Mamdani a Corinthians jersey and receiving a personalized New York shirt in return.

ANSA Latina

SourcesEconomisANSA Latina

Borrowing social policy

Lula framed the meeting as a dialogue about social policy and inequality, and he said, “It was an honor to show how he has been an inspiration for many of us in the defense of workers, of people living in difficult conditions,” while Mamdani praised him in return. Celso Amorim described the encounter as a father and son exchange, saying, “Mamdani — recalled the former foreign minister — is a young man who governs one of the world’s most important cities and offered us his vision.” Mamdani told reporters he would draw inspiration from Lula’s social programs for the poor in Brazil as he sought to improve conditions for New Yorkers facing economic difficulties to cover expenses such as buying and renting.

Lula and Mamdani also discussed defending democracy and confronting extremism and misinformation around the world, and Lula said he invited Mamdani to visit Brazil on a date to be agreed in the future. The meeting took place one day before the opening of the 81st UN General Assembly, where Lula was scheduled to address the general debate immediately before Donald Trump.

Economis

SourcesANSA LatinaEl Destape

Elections and economic stakes

The meeting with Mamdani came as Lula sought a non-consecutive fourth term as president of Brazil, with the first round of the presidential election on October 4, and as Mamdani became a prominent figure within the U.S. Democratic Party ahead of the November midterm elections.

“Brazil will hold the first round of its presidential election on October 4, and the United States will have its midterm elections in November.”

Economis

Lula’s agenda in New York also included defending multilateralism and national sovereignty, and the meeting’s everyday focus on food and housing was presented as crossing borders with the same cost pressures.

Valor International reported that Lula’s UN speech expected on September 22 in New York would use defense of sovereignty and democracy to send a message against external interference in Brazil’s election, while also potentially addressing organized crime.

Valor International added that Ambassador Carlos Cozendey said the expectation was that the speech would contain “a strong defense of multilateralism as the basic guiding principle of Brazilian foreign policy.”

In the background of the cost of living discussion, the sources also tied the UN week to broader economic and political stakes, including Lula’s scheduled participation in the general debate of the 81st General Assembly.

SourcesEconomisValor International