Brazilian President Lula responded to Trump’s tariff threats by saying the world doesn’t ‘need an emperor’ who lashes out over the web.
United States President Donald Trump has threatened to hike tariffs in opposition to the BRICS financial bloc after the group provided oblique criticism of commerce wars and the current navy assaults in Iran.
On Monday, Trump took purpose on the 10-member bloc, which seeks to strengthen rising economies, framing its pursuits as adversarial to the US’s.
“Any Nation aligning themselves with the Anti-American insurance policies of BRICS, might be charged an ADDITIONAL 10% Tariff,” Trump wrote in a publish. “There might be no exceptions to this coverage. Thanks in your consideration to this matter!”
BRICS is called for its founding members, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. However it has grown to incorporate different nations, comparable to Indonesia, Egypt, Iran and the United Arab Emirates.
Over the weekend, the group held its seventeenth summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The assembly culminated in a declaration angled at selling peace and world cooperation.
However a number of gadgets within the joint declaration gave the impression to be aimed on the US and its ally Israel, despite the fact that neither was recognized by identify. Underneath a piece entitled “Strengthening Multilateralism and Reforming International Governance”, as an example, the BRICS leaders known as out the growing use of tariffs in world commerce.
This appeared directed at Trump, who has threatened US buying and selling companions with a set of tariffs to barter extra beneficial commerce offers and actual coverage concessions.
The US president has additionally known as tariffs “probably the most lovely phrase to me within the dictionary”, although many economists warn that the price of such import taxes is usually offset onto customers.
Trump has additionally championed using different protectionist financial insurance policies, below the banner of his “America First” agenda. However the BRICS leaders warned that these sorts of insurance policies may backfire.
“We voice severe considerations in regards to the rise of unilateral tariff and non-tariff measures which distort commerce and are inconsistent with WTO [World Trade Organization] guidelines,” the BRICS leaders stated of their assertion.
Such measures, they continued, may “scale back world commerce, disrupt world provide chains, and introduce uncertainty into worldwide financial and commerce actions, probably exacerbating current financial disparities”.
The BRICS leaders additionally used their declaration to denounce the current navy strikes on one of many bloc’s member nations, Iran.
“We condemn the navy strikes in opposition to the Islamic Republic of Iran since 13 June 2025, which represent a violation of worldwide regulation,” they wrote, including that “peaceable nuclear services” had been focused.
Israel carried out the primary assaults in opposition to Iran within the 12-day conflict on June 13, and on June 22, the US despatched seven B-2 Spirit stealth bombers to Iran to strike three nuclear services. Each Israel and the US have maintained that these actions had been crucial to forestall Iran from buying a nuclear weapon, although Iran has denied in search of one.
Within the wake of Trump’s tariff risk, BRICS leaders rushed to guarantee their US counterparts that they aren’t in search of confrontation. Others, nonetheless, chafed at Trump’s remarks.
“I turned conscious of what President Trump tweeted, and I believe there must be larger appreciation of the emergence of assorted centres of energy on this planet,” stated South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. “And this ought to be seen in a constructive mild, moderately than in a unfavorable mild.”
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took a fair blunter method to Trump’s threats.
“I don’t assume it’s very accountable or severe for the president of a rustic as huge as america to go round threatening the world by means of the web,” Lula stated in a question-and-answer session with reporters.
“It’s not proper. The world has modified. We don’t need an emperor.”