Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said after a three-hour meeting with US President Donald Trump that ties had been “stabilized,” raising hopes of improved relations between two leaders who have clashed repeatedly.

The US imposed onerous levies on Brazilian imports over Brasília’s prosecution of a former, Trump-aligned president, while Lula has criticized Washington for its foreign policy and trade practices.

However ties have improved recently as the White House looks to reassert US regional supremacy and increase its access to rare earths. Lula’s visit can only be understood “as part of a global story,” a prominent expert on Latin America wrote: “The US need for rare earths … is acute and perhaps far more urgent than [the] public knows.”