US President Donald Trump is set to impose an additional 10% tariff on any country aligning with the “Anti-American policies” of the BRICS group of developing nations.
In a joint statement from the opening of the BRICS summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the group warned the rise in tariffs threatened global trade and criticized Trump’s tariff policies even as the US President warned he would punish countries seeking to join with the grouping.
“Any country aligning themselves with the Anti-American policies of BRICS, will be charged an additional 10% Tariff. There will be no exceptions to this policy. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
He however did not clarify or expand on the “Anti-American policies” reference in his post.
Trump’s administration is seeking to finalize dozens of trade deals with a wide range of countries before his July 9 deadline for the imposition of significant “retaliatory tariffs”.
The original BRICS group gathered leaders from Brazil, Russia, India and China at its first summit in 2009. The bloc later added South Africa and last year included Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates as members. Saudi Arabia has held off formally joining, according to sources, while another 30 nations have expressed interest in participating in the BRICS, either as full members or partners.
In his opening remarks at the summit, Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva drew a parallel with the Cold War’s Non-Aligned Movement, a group of developing nations that resisted joining either side of a polarized global order.
“BRICS is the heir to the Non-Aligned Movement,” Lula said, adding: “With multilateralism under attack, our autonomy is in check once again”.
According to him, BRICS nations now represent more than half of the world’s population and 40% of its economic output, warning of rising protectionism.
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