Bolsonaro slams Macron as G7 announces USD 20 mn for Amazon fires

Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has unexpectedly slammed French President Emmanuel Macron after he announced that G7 countries will be providing USD 20 million to tackle Amazon forest fires.

Bolsonaro denounced Macron's plan for an international alliance to protect the Amazon, saying on Twitter that it would treat Brazil like a colony.

- Não podemos aceitar que um presidente, Macron, dispare ataques descabidos e gratuitos à Amazônia, nem que disfarce suas intenções atrás da ideia de uma "aliança" dos países do G-7 para "salvar" a Amazônia, como se fôssemos uma colônia ou uma terra de ninguém.

— Jair M. Bolsonaro (@jairbolsonaro) August 26, 2019

The leaders have also been feuding in recent weeks after Macron said he had been lied to by Bolsonaro over his commitments to fighting climate change. Bilateral relations between the countries have been rough since Bolsonaro took office.

In July, Bolsonaro canceled a meeting with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian - for getting a haircut instead.

Many Brazilians were also angered after Macron, in the run-up to the G7 summit, tweeted a photo of the burning Amazon forest, writing: "Our house is burning. Literally."

Since taking office in January, Bolsonaro has railed against the enforcement of environmental regulations in Brazil and announced intentions to develop the Amazon region, where deforestation of the world's largest rainforest by loggers, ranchers, and speculators has surged this year.