Developing nations participating in the BRICS summit yesterday brushed away an accusation from US President Donald Trump that the bloc is ‘anti-American’, as he threatened them with additional 10 per cent tariffs.
Trump’s threat on Sunday night came as the US government prepared to finalise dozens of trade deals with a range of countries before his July 9 deadline for the imposition of significant “retaliatory tariffs.”
Voicing “serious concerns about the rise of unilateral tariff” measures, BRICS members said the tariffs risked hurting the global economy, according to a summit joint statement.
In an apparent concession to US allies, the summit declaration did not criticise the US or its president by name at any point.
“Tariffs should not be used as a tool for coercion and pressuring,” Mao Ning, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said in Beijing. The BRICS advocates for “win-win co-operation,” she added, and “does not target any country.”
South Africa, which was slapped with 30pc tariffs that were later suspended pending trade talks, reaffirmed that it is “not anti-American,” trade ministry spokesman Kaamil Alli said, adding that talks with the US government “remain constructive and fruitful.”
A Kremlin spokesman said Russia’s co-operation with the BRICS was based on a “common world view” and “will never be directed against third countries.”
India and Brazil, which is hosting the BRICS gathering, did not immediately provide an official response to Trump.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told reporters that he would only comment after wrapping up the summit. His opening remarks to BRICS leaders gathered in Rio de Janeiro yesterday focused on the environmental and public health issues on the summit’s official agenda.
A Brazilian diplomat who was not authorised to comment officially said Trump’s threat underscored the importance of the BRICS group to give developing nations a way to argue for fair and effective global ground rules on topics such as trade.
Many BRICS members and many of the group’s partner nations are highly dependent on trade with the US. New member Indonesia’s senior economic minister, Airlangga Hartarto, who is in Brazil for the BRICS summit, is scheduled to go to the US today to oversee tariff talks, an official told Reuters.
Malaysia, which was attending as a partner country and was slapped with 24pc tariffs that were later suspended, said that it maintains independent economic policies and is not focused on ideological alignment.
The summit also called for regulation governing artificial intelligence and said the technology could not be the preserve of only rich nations.
The commercial AI sector is currently dominated by US tech giants, although China and other nations have rapidly developing capacity.
With forums such as the G7 and G20 groups of major economies hamstrung by divisions and Trump’s disruptive “America First” approach, the BRICS group has presented itself as a haven for multilateral diplomacy amid violent conflicts and trade wars.
Trump also warned he would punish countries seeking to join the group.
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 UAE as members. Saudi Arabia has held off formally accepting an invitation to full membership, but is participating as a partner country. More than 30 nations have expressed interest in participating in the BRICS, either as full members or partners.
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