Biden 'Confident' U.S. Can Rebuild Brazil Ties

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said Tuesday after meeting Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff that he was confident the two countries could improve relations damaged by revelations of American spying.

Biden is in Brazil to patch up ties strained by reports of U.S. spying on Rousseff's personal phone and email communications, leaked last September by fugitive National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.

When asked by journalists after meeting Rousseff whether U.S.-Brazil relations could be improved, Biden said: "I am confident they can."

Rousseff canceled a state visit to Washington last year after the spying revelations and reprimanded the U.S. at the U.N. General Assembly.

Biden said one of the goals for his visit was to "rebuild trust going forward" in a pre-departure interview with Brazilian newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo.

The vice president arrived in Brazil Monday to watch the U.S. play Ghana in their first match of the World Cup. The U.S. won 2-1 in the northeastern city of Natal.

Biden will also visit Colombia, the Dominican Republic and Guatemala on a four-country Latin American tour.