Brazil was offended by Germany’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, after he visited the country and mocked it publicly upon his return.

Merz, known for an extraordinary talent for foolish and tone-deaf remarks, told an audience at a trade conference in Berlin that during the COP30 climate summit in Belém he asked the journalists traveling with him who wanted to stay in Brazil.

“Not a single hand went up,” he said.

“We were all happy to leave that place and fly back to Germany”.

His comments quickly reached Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

At an event in northern Brazil, Lula shot back, saying Merz should have gone dancing or visited one of Belém’s bars during the summit: “If he had done that, he would understand that Berlin does not offer even ten percent of what the state of Pará and the city of Belém offer”.

Lula is not wrong.

While Germany steadily deteriorates into something resembling a developing country — with crumbling infrastructure and a faltering economy — Brazil has become a far more attractive destination for tourists and skilled migrants seeking opportunity rather than handouts.

Other senior Brazilian officials also saw Merz’s statement as an insult and responded with anger.

The Chancellor’s remarks were particularly striking given the context: he had intended to comfort Germans worried about their sluggish economy by claiming that Germany remains one of the world’s most advanced and prosperous nations.

Yet in doing so, he exposed a remarkable ignorance of Germany’s current decline compared to Brazil’s growing appeal.

A spokesperson for the German government attempted damage control, insisting that Merz’s comments were taken “out of context” and presented “in a misleading way”.

According to him, the Chancellor merely meant that the delegation was exhausted after an extremely long night flight and a full day of events in Belém and simply wanted to begin the long trip home.

The spokesperson added that Brazil is Germany’s most important partner in Latin America and that the episode had caused no real harm to bilateral relations.

He said the Chancellor’s overall impression of his short visit to Latin America had been “quite positive”.

Merz’s jab at Brazil joins a long list of foolish and embarrassing statements that have repeatedly landed him in trouble throughout his unimpressive political career.

He previously caused outrage by referring to the children of Muslim parents as “little pashas” and by claiming that migrants were ruining Germany’s “urban landscapes”.

For many in Brazil and beyond, his latest blunder is simply more of the same.