That isn’t the reason I think the comparison is apt. Both the US and Brazil were former colonies of European powers made independent by popular revolt. They both have a legacy of slavery. Both have bursts of immigration around 1900 from the old world. Both have very large territories. Both have substantial minerals resources. Both have checkered histories with indigenous peoples. Both are multiethnic and multiracial democracies. Both have large minorities of Spanish speakers. Brazil and the US have more in common historically and structurally than the US and Germany.