Brics more relevant than ever, summit host Brazil says amid Trump’s tariff threats

Brics is “more relevant than ever” and a “multilateral approach … for the limitations of the rules-based multilateral trade system”, Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira said on Tuesday as the South American country prepares to host the bloc’s summit in July.

Speaking in Brasilia ahead of a key meeting of Brics negotiators, Vieira emphasised the bloc’s growing influence and dismissed external pressure, saying the group remained committed to strengthening cooperation among emerging economies.

His remarks come as US President Donald Trump ramps up threats to impose steep tariffs on Brics nations. Talking to the press at the White House last week, Trump again warned of trade repercussions on any Brics country seeking to reduce dependence on the US dollar in trade.

“Brics states were trying to destroy our dollar. They wanted to create a new currency,” he said. “So when I came in, the first thing I said was any Brics state that even mentions the destruction of the dollar will be charged a 150 per cent tariff, and we do not want your goods.”

Senior Brazilian officials later clarified that the group was not negotiating the creation of a new currency, but a system that would allow the consolidation of trade transactions using local currencies. This move would help keep US banks out of Brics businesses as they would not use the dollar.

Vieira downplayed the impact of such threats, reaffirming Brazil’s focus on reinforcing ties with Brics partners.

“We are witnessing the process of ‘deglobalisation’: protectionist policies, trade fragmentation, non-economic barriers. And the reconfiguration of supply chains threatens to deepen global inequalities,” he said.

“Brics must resist this fragmentation and advocate for an open, fair and balanced multilateral trade system – one that serves the needs of the Global South and fosters a genuinely multipolar economic order,” the minister added, stating that the best response for “the crisis of multilateralism is more multilateralism”.

  

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