Trump trade war dominates BRICS meeting in Brazil

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is attending a gathering of ministers from the BRICS grouping successful Rio de Janeiro. Photo: Pablo PORCIUNCULA / AFP
Source: AFP

The overseas ministers of Brazil, China, Russia and different BRICS members began 2 days of talks successful Rio de Janeiro Monday aimed astatine forging a agreed beforehand to US President Donald Trump's assertive commercialized policies.

The gathering comes astatine a captious infinitesimal for the satellite economy aft the International Monetary Fund slashed maturation forecasts implicit the interaction of the US leader's sweeping caller tariffs.

Top diplomats from the 11-member bloc -- which includes Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates -- met to hone their docket up of a July leaders summit.

Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira stressed the value of dialog astatine a clip of "humanitarian crises, equipped conflicts, governmental instability and the erosion of multilateralism."

BRICS's "role arsenic a radical is much important than ever," helium said.

Trump, since returning to the White House successful January, has deed dozens of countries with a broad 10 percent tariff, but China faces levies of up to 145 percent connected galore products.

Beijing has responded with duties of 125 percent connected US goods.

Senior Chinese economical planner Zhao Chenxin said Monday successful Beijing that the state was connected the "right broadside of history" successful the look of what helium called Washington's "unilateralism and bullying."

BRICS has expanded importantly since its 2009 inception arsenic a radical of 4 powers -- Brazil, Russia, India and China -- seeking an alternate level to Western-led planetary organizations specified arsenic the G7.

It present makes up astir fractional of the world's population, 39 percent of planetary GDP and weighs successful connected issues from Ukraine to Gaza to planetary trade.

Vieira opened the talks with a telephone for a "complete withdrawal" of Israeli forces from Gaza, terming Israel's much than 50-day assistance blockade of the territory "unacceptable."

The radical has had mostly little to accidental astir the warfare successful Ukraine, issuing calls for bid portion steering wide of condemning Russia's invasion.

And Vieira connected Monday called for a "diplomatic solution" which respects the "principles and objectives" of the United Nations charter.

Russian ceasefire

The overseas ministers of Brazil, China and Russia are among apical diplomats attending talks betwixt members of the BRICS grouping successful Brazil. Photo: Pablo PORCIUNCULA / AFP
Source: AFP

The gathering comes astatine the commencement of what the United States has called a "critical week" for talks connected ending the Ukraine war.

Trump appeared to crook against Putin astatine the play aft a gathering with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky astatine Pope Francis's funeral, saying helium felt the Russian person was "just tapping maine along."

Russian President Vladimir Putin responded by announcing a three-day ceasefire from May 8-10.

The White House, however, suggested the intermission was not sufficient, saying Trump had "made it wide helium wants to spot a imperishable ceasefire first."

At the aforesaid clip the US president has been piling unit connected Kyiv to springiness up hopes of reclaiming Russian-annexed Crimea.

A BRICS situation to the hegemony of the dollar is expected to feature precocious connected the agenda.

At a acme past year, BRICS members discussed boosting non-dollar transactions, eliciting a swift rebuke from Trump who threatened them with 100 percent tariffs if they undercut the US currency.

Speaking to Brazil's O Globo paper up of the meeting, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said BRICS nations planned to "increase the stock of nationalist currencies successful transactions" betwixt subordinate states, but said speech of transitioning towards a unified BRICS currency was "premature."

Vieira, whose state has truthful acold been spared the worst of Trump's commercialized ire -- Brazilian imports to the US are taxable to 10 percent tariffs, a fraction of those imposed connected China -- besides denied immoderate plans to make a caller currency.

Another contented expected to diagnostic prominently successful the associated connection issued aft the BRICS gathering Tuesday is clime change.

Brazil is the big of this year's UN COP30 clime conference, which volition instrumentality spot successful November successful the Amazon metropolis of Belem.

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Source: AFP