Chinese President Xi Jinping shakes hands with Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva after a signing ceremony and a joint press conference, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, May 13, 2025. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang/Pool/File Photo

BRASILIA/BEIJING (Reuters) -Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Chinese President Xi Jinping have discussed the role of the BRICS group of states and bilateral business over a phone call, according to Lula's office and Chinese state media said.

The leaders spoke for an hour on Monday, agreeing on the role of the G20 and BRICS in defending multilateralism," Brazil's presidency said in a statement.

"Both presidents also highlighted their willingness to continue identifying new business opportunities between the two economies," the statement said.

Lula said last week he would initiate a conversation about how to tackle Trump's tariffs with BRICS nations, after Trump dubbed the group "anti-American" and threatened them with additional tariffs.

Xi called BRICS a key platform for building consensus in the Global South and said China is ready to work with Brazil to set an example of unity and self-reliance among major Global South nations, Chinese state media Xinhua reported.

Agriculture trade features notably in China and Brazil's relations.

China, the world's biggest soybean importer, gets most of the commodity from Brazil and recently, numerous Brazilian coffee companies found entry into the Chinese market after the industry was hit by steep U.S. tariffs.

China last week also showed Brazil support in resisting the "bullying behaviour" of imposing excessive tariffs, without naming the U.S.

Xi described ties between the two countries as "at their best in history", and said both should work together to address global challenges and promote the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis, Xinhua said.

(Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu in Brasilia, Sarah Morland in Mexico City and Liz Lee in Beijing; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Stephen Coates)