The first BRICS summit in 2009 was attended by leaders from Brazil, China, India and Russia, with South Africa joining later. Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates were included last year, and Saudi Arabia, while accepted as a member, is participating as a partner country.
Other partner countries include Bolivia, Nigeria, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Uganda.
Trump has close ties to leaders of some of those countries, such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and has been touting the prospect of a trade deal with India for weeks. His administration concluded a framework trade deal with Vietnam last week and has been in talks about a similar agreement with Thailand.
In the BRICS leaders’ Sunday statement, they condemned attacks on Gaza and Iran by Israel, a US ally, and called for reforms to global institutions, warning that the rise in “unilateral tariff and non-tariff measures” threatened global trade.
It was not immediately clear if Trump’s latest tariff threat would derail trade talks underway with India, Indonesia and other BRICS nations.
South Africa insisted it was not “anti-American” and said its talks with the US government remained constructive.
Indonesia, keen to avert a threatened 32 per cent tariff rate, is due to sign a US$34 billion pact with US partners this week and has offered to cut duties on key imports from the United States to “near zero” and to buy $500 million worth of US wheat.
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