The 2025 edition of the annual BRICS Summit just ended in Rio and US President Donald Trump is displeased, to say the least.
Taking to his usual route of Truth Social diplomacy and browbeating via tariffs, Trump threatened the whole world. He declared that any country aligning themselves with “the Anti-American policies of BRICS”, will be subjected to an additional tariff of 10%.
Brazil President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva lambasted Trump for his threats decrying them as “not right”.
Now, granted Trump has had a longstanding beef with BRICS, what has caused POTUS to take aim at them this time?
BRICS Critiques Tariffs, Eyes Dollar Alternatives
The BRICS bloc, originally composed of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa grew to include Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates.
A 2024 World Bank report puts the expanded group’s combined population at about 3.5 billion, or 45% of the world's inhabitants. Additionally, the combined worth of BRICS economies is more than $28.5tn - about 28% of the global economy.
So naturally, Trump didn’t take too kindly to the 10-member bloc criticising his tariffs.
The bloc’s joint statement condemned tariffs as a threat to the global economy, as it not only brought "uncertainty into international economic and trade activities" but also flouted World Trade Organization regulations. Furthermore, BRICS nations also proposed reforms to the International Monetary Fund and how major currencies are valued.
This isn’t the first time they’ve challenged the US Dollar as the de facto currency for world trade. In 2024, leading politicians in Brazil and Russia had suggested creating a BRICS currency to reduce the US Dollar's dominance in global trade. The calls only grew louder after Russia faced the West’s wrath for invading Ukraine and was subsequently hit with sanctions and freezing of assets.
After winning the US Presidential elections in Nov 2024, Trump took to Truth Social demanding a commitment that the bloc will neither create a new currency nor back any other currency “to replace the mighty US dollar”. Failure to do so would result in 100% tariffs, Trump had declared.
Understandably, the bloc backed down… for now.
Support for Iran and calls for Palestinian State
The joint statement also took aim at US and Israeli bombing of BRICS member Iran, while also voicing strong support for the creation of a Palestinian state.
In their declaration, the bloc described the Israeli and American attacks on Iran in June as a “violation of international law” and expressed their “grave concern” about the deteriorating security situation in the Middle East.
BRICS also denounced the use of starvation as a weapon as Israel’s 21-month-long war on Gaza rages on, whilst also rejecting the politicisation or militarisation of humanitarian aid. Furthermore, the bloc backed UNRWA, the UN aid agency for Palestinian refugees.
For context - the agency ceased operations after being banned by Israel. Only for Israel to then throw support behind the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a private US organisation.
The GHF has been tasked with providing food and humanitarian aid to the people trapped in the enclave - a move that has been widely criticised by global rights bodies. Mainly because hundreds of Palestinians have been shot and killed while scrambling for aid at GHF's distribution sites.
More importantly, BRICS reiterated its position, one that is widely held globally, that Gaza and the occupied West Bank are integral parts of a future Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Faced with Trump’s threats, Lula ended the summit by reiterating the sovereign nature of the member nations and that they too can play Trump’s game by reserving the right to retaliate.
Who will win this game of “chicken”? I guess we’ll find out soon enough.
