Donald Trump said Brazil's new president Jair Bolsonaro is "a great new leader."

US President Donald Trump likes Brazil's controversial new leader Jair Bolsonaro -- especially his nickname.

"They say he's the Donald Trump of South America, do you believe that?" Trump told a crowd at the American Farm Bureau Federation convention in New Orleans.

Bolsonaro is sometimes called "the Trump of the tropics" as an avowed enthusiast for the US leader.

The ex-army captain -- who openly admires Brazil's former military dictators and their torture specialists -- apparently enjoys his new nickname. Which is lucky for Latin America's biggest country.

"He's happy with that," Trump said. "If he wasn't, I wouldn't like the country so much. But I like him."

Trump said Bolsonaro, who has vowed to forge a close alliance with Washington after more than a decade of leftwing rule in Brazil, is "a great new leader."