Trump threatens tariffs with countries that align with BRICS

US President threatens to punish those who align with the group’s “anti -American policies” with 10%surcharge, while Washington tries to seal trade agreements before the entry into force of their “retaliatory tariffs.”

United States President Donald Trump said on Sunday (07/06) that Washington will impose an additional 10% rate on any country that he has called on what he called “anti -American policies” from the BRICS group, whose representatives participated in a summit in Brazil this weekend.

With forums formed by the big economies, such as G7 and G20, paralyzed by the president’s divisive and disruptive policies, BRICS tries to present itself as a stage for multilateral diplomacy.

In a joint statement at the opening of the summit, the BRICS countries criticized the “indiscriminate increase in tariffs” as a threat to global trade, continuing the group’s veiled criticism of Trump’s tariff policies.

Hours later, the American warned that he would punish countries to seek to align with the group. “Any country that alienates the BRICS anti -American policies will pay an additional 10%rate. There will be no exceptions to this policy. Thanks for your attention to this subject,” Trump wrote, posting on his social networking social network.

He, however, did not clarify what these “anti -American policies.”

The Trump government seeks to finalize dozens of commercial agreements with a wide range of countries before the deadline of July 9 for the imposition of so -called “retaliatory tariffs.”

“Movement of not aligned”

In his statement, Brics countries again requested a renovation of the United Nations Security Council and repudiated attacks that hit Russia’s rail bridges in June this year, without, however, mentioning Ukraine, which would be behind the aggression. This is the first time the block has quoted a Moscow military action in a statement.

The document was the first signed by the new formation of the bloc, which last year, accepted the adhesion of five new countries. The group is currently made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, United Arab Emirates and Indonesia.

The BRICS expansion increased the group’s diplomatic weight, which seeks to represent the developing countries of the global southern and reinforce requests for reforms in global institutions. The final text positions the bloc as an advocate of multilateralism and indirect critic of US commercial and military policies.

BRICS countries represent more than half of the world’s population and 40% of their economic production | Mauro Pimentel/AFP

In his opening speech, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva traced a parallel with developing countries that resisted aligning himself with any of the world order poles during the Cold War.

“BRICS is the heir to the movement of not aligned,” said Lula. “With multilateralism under attack, our autonomy is again in check,” he said.

BRICS countries represent more than half of the world’s population and 40% of their economic production, Lula noted in comments on Saturday to business leaders, warning against protectionism.

“We are not anti -American”

After Trump’s threat, a South African Ministry of Commerce spokesman said his country still wants to negotiate a trade agreement with the United States. Attempts have been taking place since May, when Trump received South African President Cyril Ramaphosapara conversations at the White House.

“We are still awaiting formal US communication about our trade agreement, but our conversations remain constructive and fruitful,” spokesman Kaamil Alli told the press. “As we have communicated earlier, we are not anti -American.”

China said on Monday that BRICS does not seek confrontation with Washington. “Regarding the imposition of tariffs, China has repeatedly affirmed its position that commercial and tariff wars have no winners and protectionism does not offer,” said Foreign Chinese Ministry spokesman Mao Ning on Monday.

Beijing defended BRICS as “an important platform for cooperation between emerging markets and developing countries.” The group, according to the spokesman, advocates an opening, inclusion and advantageous cooperation for all, ”said Mao.“ It is not involved in confrontations between opposite sides and has no target any country, ”he added.

Originally published by DW on 07/07/2025