BERLIN — Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva lashed out at Friedrich Merz after Germany’s chancellor made remarks disparaging the South American country.

Merz said last week that he and the national press corps had been happy to return to Germany from the Amazon city of Belém, Brazil, where they had attended this year’s U.N. climate talks.

“He should have gone dancing in Pará,” Lula said about the state where Belém is situated. “He should have tasted Pará’s cuisine. Because he would have realized that Berlin doesn’t offer him 10 percent of the quality that the state of Pará offers.”

At a trade conference in Berlin last week, Merz attempted to spread optimism about the struggling German economy — but put his foot in his mouth.

“We live in one of the most beautiful countries in the world. Last week I asked some journalists who were with me in Brazil: Which of you would like to stay here? No one raised their hand,” Merz said upon returning from Brazil. “They were all happy that, above all, we returned from this place to Germany.”

His comments sparked a backlash among Brazilian state politicians — and, according to a Spiegel report, might even jeopardize the efforts of the German delegation on the ground.

“Pará opened its doors and showed the strength of a welcoming people. It is curious to see that those who contributed to global warming find the heat of the Amazon strange,” Helder Barbalho, the Pará state governor, wrote on X.

Although Merz has repeatedly stressed that he wants to maintain an ambitious climate agenda and existing climate targets, his government has also relaxed the timeline for a phaseout of coal plants and is planning to construct new gas-fired power plants.