(AFP) – US President Donald Trump’s decision to hit “anti-American” BRICS nations — including China and India — with an extra 10 percent trade tariff roiled the final day of the bloc’s summit in Rio de Janeiro Monday. Trump threatened the 11-nation grouping — which includes some of the world’s fastest-emerging economies — late on Sunday, after they warned against his “indiscriminate,” damaging and illegal tariff hikes.
“Any Country aligning themselves with the Anti-American policies of BRICS, will be charged an ADDITIONAL 10% Tariff,” Trump wrote on social media. BRICS members account for about half the world’s population and 40 percent of global economic output. Members China, Russia and South Africa responded coolly to Trump’s latest verbal barrage, insisting the bloc was not seeking confrontation with Washington.
But host Brazil’s leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was less diplomatic. “We are sovereign nations,” Lula said. “We don’t want an emperor.” Conceived two decades ago as a forum for fast-growing economies, BRICS has come to be seen as a Chinese-driven effort to curb US global influence. But it is a quickly expanding and often divergent grouping — bringing together arch US foes like Iran and Russia, with some of Washington’s closest allies in Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.
Some US allies inside the bloc had tried to blunt criticism of Trump by not mentioning him or the United States by name in the summit statement. Saudi Arabia — one of the biggest purchasers of US high-tech weapons — even kept its foreign minister away from Sunday’s talks and a BRICS group photo, seemingly to avoid Washington’s ire. But such diplomatic gestures were lost on the US president who said “there will be no exceptions to this policy.”
– No shows – In April, Trump threatened a slew of punitive duties on dozens of economies, before backing off in the face of a fierce market sell-off. Now he is threatening to impose unilateral levies on trading partners unless they reach “deals” by August 1, with BRICS nations seemingly faced with higher tariffs than planned.
It cannot have helped that BRICS leaders also condemned the recent US and Israeli bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities — a show of solidarity with fellow member Iran. Beijing on Monday insisted BRICS was not seeking confrontation with the United States. “China has repeatedly stated its position that trade and tariff wars have no winners and protectionism offers no way forward,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said.
Beijing also defended the bloc as “an important platform for cooperation between emerging markets and developing countries.” “It advocates openness, inclusivity, and win-win cooperation,” Mao said. “It does not engage in camp confrontation and is not targeted at any country,” she added. The Kremlin echoed that message with spokesman Dmitry Peskov telling Russian media that BRICS cooperation “has never been and will never be directed against third countries.”
The political punch of this year’s summit has been depleted by the absence of China’s Xi Jinping, who skipped the meeting for the first time in his 12 years as president. The Chinese leader is not the only notable absentee. Russian President Vladimir Putin, charged with war crimes in Ukraine, also opted to stay away, participating via video link. He told counterparts that BRICS had become a key player in global governance.
– Andrew BEATTY
© 2024 AFP
