BRICS group raises 'serious concerns' with increased tariffs
The BRICS bloc of developing nations adopted a declaration on Sunday condemning increased unilateral tariffs — but avoided mentioning the United States or President Trump by name.
The group’s statement, issued at a two-day summit in Brazil, raised “serious concerns” with the tariffs, saying they are “inconsistent” with the rules of the WTO and threaten to “reduce global trade, disrupt global supply chains, and introduce uncertainty.”
“We voice serious concerns about the rise of unilateral tariff and non-tariff measures which distort trade and are inconsistent with WTO rules,” the declaration read.
“In this context, we reiterate our support for the rules-based, open, transparent, fair, inclusive, equitable, non-discriminatory, consensus-based multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organization (WTO) at its core, with special and differential treatment (S&DT) for its developing members,” the group added.
The declaration comes as the 90-day pause Trump issued on his sweeping global “reciprocal” tariffs on individual countries around the world nears an end.
A week after the tariffs were announced on April 2, a 90-day pause went into effect to allow countries the time to negotiate trade deals with the Trump administration.
Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent have said that letters to U.S. trading partners are going out on Monday to notify other countries that the tariff rates will “boomerang back” to the higher rates on Aug. 1 for countries that file to strike a deal with the U.S. sooner.
The BRICS group also criticized NATO’s decision to increase defense spending to 5 percent of GDP by 2035 — a decision prompted by Trump’s insistence that Europe shoulder more of the alliance’s defense burden.
Trump appeared to respond to the BRICS declaration, threatening to impose an additional 10 percent tariff on countries “aligning” themselves with the BRICS bloc of developing nations.
“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 wrote in a Truth Social post Sunday evening.
BRICS was founded by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, but the group last year expanded to include Indonesia, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates.
Trump has threatened to impose 100 percent tariffs against the bloc if it takes any move to undermine the dollar.
The Associated Press contributed.