Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has accused Donald Trump of trying to ‘colonise’ Brazil and capture its natural resources by meddling in the country’s October election.

The accusation was made in a campaign advert released by Lula’s team, which claims Trump is backing Lula’s far-right opponent Flávio Bolsonaro. The Guardian reported that the advert will air on television as the first-round vote approaches on 4 October.

The US State Department has denied that Washington is interfering, calling the allegation a baseless lie. That denial is part of the verified record and means the central claim remains contested rather than established fact.

The dispute is nevertheless broader than one advert. The Guardian reported that Brazil’s intelligence agency had warned electoral authorities of a critical risk of US interference, while Democratic members of Congress accused the Trump administration of a sustained campaign of pressure and destabilisation. The State Department had not responded to a request for comment on that letter at the time of publication.

Tariffs and resource politics sharpen the argument. Lula’s campaign says Brazil’s natural wealth is at stake; critics of the government fear the accusation is being used to frame a domestic contest as a foreign assault. Neither interpretation removes the need to examine the evidence behind the allegations.

With the election less than two weeks away, the immediate risk is not only diplomatic damage. Repeated claims of outside interference can also weaken confidence in the vote before ballots are cast, making the electoral authority’s transparency and the parties’ evidence more important than the campaign rhetoric.