U.S. President Donald Trump announced that an additional 10% tariff will be charged to countries “aligning themselves with the anti-American policies of BRICS,” without elaborating.
“Any Country aligning themselves with the Anti-American policies of BRICS, will be charged an ADDITIONAL 10% Tariff. There will be no exceptions to this policy,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social Sunday evening stateside.
Trump’s announcement came as the BRICS bloc of developing countries have gathered in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for a summit.
The BRICS group includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, Indonesia and Iran. The bloc describes itself as “a political and diplomatic coordination forum for countries from the Global South and for coordination in the most diverse areas.”
Chinese President Xi Jinping sent premier Li Qiang to the meeting in his absence, while Russian President Vladimir Putin attended online.
Separately, Donald Trump has said that his administration plans to start sending letters on Monday to US trade partners dictating new tariffs, amid confusion over when the new rates will come into effect.
“It could be 12, maybe 15 [letters],” the president told reporters, “and we’ve made deals also, so we’re going to have a combination of letters and some deals have been made.”
With his previously announced 90-day pause on tariffs set to end on 9 July, the president was asked if the new rates would come into effect this week, or on 1 August, as some officials had suggested.
“No, they’re going to be tariffs, the tariffs, the tariffs are going to be, the tariffs,” the president began, uncertainly, “I think we’ll have most countries done by July 9, yeah. Either a letter or a deal.”
Sensing the confusion, his commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick jumped in to add: “But they go into effect on August 1. Tariffs go into effect August 1, but the president is setting the rates and the deals right now.”
Trump in April had announced a 10% base tariff rate on most countries and additional duties ranging up to 50%, although he later delayed the effective date for all but 10% until 9 July.
The new date of 1 August offers countries a further three-week reprieve, but also plunges importers into an extended period of uncertainty due to the lack of clarity around the tariffs. (CNBC, Guardian)