It’s been a mixed bag so far for Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva after six months back in office, with a better than expected economy, but a tough relationship with the conservative Congress. In this episode, Brian Winter and political analyst Thomas Traumann discuss why economists have increased their Brazil GDP growth forecasts since the year started, what to expect from economic policy moving forward and why, in Traumann's opinion, environmental policy will be the key battleground for the Lula administration. Traumann is a journalist and independent consultant. He worked as a minister in the Dilma Rousseff government (2011-2016) and maintains contacts with a variety of political voices across the ideological spectrum.