KEY POINTS
- BRICS leaders condemned protectionism and “tariff blackmail” during a virtual summit.
- Brazil’s Lula called tariffs “unjustified and illegal” and urged deeper BRICS trade and financial integration.
- China’s Xi Jinping urged defence of the WTO-based multilateral trading system and rejection of protectionism.
- India’s Jaishankar warned that rising barriers and restrictions would hurt global trade sustainability.
- South Africa’s Ramaphosa said unilateral tariffs create hardships for the Global South.
BRASILIA, Brazil: Leaders of the 11-member BRICS bloc denounced economic protectionism and “tariff blackmail” during a virtual meeting Monday held amid a damaging trade war with US President Donald Trump.
The group of emerging economies met via videoconference at the initiative of Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, whose office said it was necessary to address the “intensification of unilateral measures.”
BRICS members Brazil and India are among the countries hardest hit by Trump’s tariffs, while new sanctions against Russia over the war in Ukraine are expected.
The BRICS represents nearly 40 percent of global GDP and almost half of the world’s population.
The bloc’s members are among those hardest hit by what Lula referred to Monday as “unjustified and illegal” trade practices.
Lula said that more trade and financial integration among the BRICS group of developing nations would help mitigate the effects of protectionism.
‘Multilateral trading system’
“Tariff blackmail is being normalised as a tool for conquering markets and interfering in domestic issues,” Lula said in the government’s published remarks of the virtual summit of BRICS leaders, without directly citing the United States.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, for his part, called for the upholding of “the multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organization at its core” and for rejection of “all forms of protectionism”, China’s state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
“At this critical juncture, BRICS countries, standing at the forefront of the Global South, should act on the BRICS Spirit of openness, inclusiveness and win-win cooperation, jointly defend multilateralism and the multilateral trading system, advance greater BRICS cooperation, and build a community with a shared future for humanity,” Xi said as quoted by Xinhua.
Xi said BRICS countries should uphold openness and win-win cooperation to safeguard the international economic and trade order.
Tensions between the United States and China, the world’s two biggest economies, resulted in tit-for-tat duties that reached triple digits earlier this year before being lowered again.
In Brazil’s case, Trump slapped his highest level of trade tariff — 50 percent — on a range of goods from Latin America’s biggest economy.
“Tariff blackmail is being normalised as an instrument to conquer markets and interfere in domestic affairs,” Lula said Monday.
‘Great hardships’
Washington also imposed tariffs of up to 50 percent on Indian imports, accusing New Delhi of fueling Moscow’s attacks on Ukraine by purchasing Russian oil.
According to AFP, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar told the BRICS summit the world needed sustainable trade, adding that “increasing barriers and complicating transactions will not help.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin also took part in the virtual meeting days after gathering with Xi, North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, and India’s Narendra Modi in China, where regional leaders slammed America’s “bullying behavior.”
Trump hit South Africa, engaged in a spat with Washington over a range of domestic and international policies, with a 30 percent tariff — the highest in sub-Saharan Africa.
Trump will not attend the G20 summit in Johannesburg later this year.
Protectionist environment
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, in a prepared speech, told BRICS counterparts that “unilateral tariff actions are contributing to an increasingly protectionist environment which poses great hardships and danger for the countries of the Global South.”
In July, Trump lashed out at the BRICS and threatened its members with additional export duties after they voiced concern that his trade war was putting the global economy at risk.
Other BRICS members are Indonesia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
Lula also used the summit to denounce a US military build-up in the Caribbean, which he said added “a factor of tension.”
Washington has deployed warships and aircraft in what it labeled an anti-drug operation, and blew up an alleged narco boat, killing 11 people and raising fears in Venezuela of an invasion. – Agencies
