 "Foreign Ministers and senior diplomats from BRICS countries pose for a family photo during the second day of the BRICS Foreign Ministers meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. AFP")
China, Brazil, and other Brics members denounced the “resurgence of trade protectionism” on Tuesday during a conference in Rio de Janeiro, overshadowed by US President Donald Trump’s tariff blitz.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Russian colleague Sergei Lavrov were among the 11-country group’s senior diplomats who met for two days to discuss problems ranging from Trump’s trade war to the fight for peace in Ukraine.
Mauro Vieira, the foreign minister of Brazil, which now holds the rotating Brics leadership, stated that the bloc emphasised its “firm rejection” of protectionism without directly alluding to Trump.
Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has imposed a blanket 10% tax on dozens of nations, while China faces levies of up to 145% on numerous imports.
Beijing has replied with 125% levies on US products.
Brics, formed in 2009 by Brazil, Russia, India, and China and currently include Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and the United Arab Emirates, has emerged as a key counterbalance to Western-led groups such as the G7.
It currently accounts for about half of the world’s population and 39% of the global GDP.
The meeting in Rio came at a critical moment for the world economy after the International Monetary Fund slashed growth forecasts over the impact of Trump’s sweeping levies on imports.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsThe ministers did not issue a joint statement.
Brazil instead settled for a declaration summarizing the discussions.
Vieira said there was “absolute consensus” on the subject of “trade conflicts and tariffs.”
DDD
Some Brics members have avoided Trump’s trade fury.
Brazilian exports to the United States are subject to 10 percent tariffs, a fraction of those imposed on China.
And while Latin America’s biggest economy has been hit by Trump’s tariffs on steel imports – Brazil is the second-biggest supplier of steel to the US – President Luiz Inacio Lula’s government has declined to retaliate and sought to negotiate with Washington instead.
Brazil has however made no secret of its frustration with European Union regulations on some of its agricultural exports, imposed over Amazon deforestation.
Vieira hit out Tuesday at the use of “non-tariff” trade barriers, deployed under “environmental pretexts.”
The group trod more carefully on the issue of non-dollar transactions among Brics members.
At a summit last year in Russia, Brics leaders discussed boosting such transactions, eliciting a swift rebuke from Trump who threatened them with 100 percent tariffs if they undercut the US currency.
Brazil said the ministers this week had “underlined the importance of greater use of local currencies.”
Climate ambitions in jeopardy
“Multilateralism” and “cooperation” were the watchwords of the meeting, which also discussed the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.
The Brics ministers called for a “complete withdrawal” of Israeli forces from Gaza, terming Israel’s more than 50-day aid blockade of the territory “unacceptable.”
They had less to say about the war in Ukraine, which is at a critical juncture, with Washington threatening to end its efforts to broker peace in the absence of a breakthrough.
As in the past, Russia’s Brics partners stopped short of condemning Moscow’s invasion of its neighbor, while calling for a “lasting peace deal.”
The growing global polarization is of particular concern to Brazil as it prepares to host the annual, often fractious UN climate conference in November in the Amazon.
On Tuesday, Brazil warned that the international “fragmentation” was jeopardizing global “climate action ambitions.”