RIO DE JANEIRO – BRICS leaders meeting in Rio de Janeiro yesterday were expected to decry United States (US) president Donald Trump’s “indiscriminate” trade tariffs.
They said they are illegal and risk hurting the global economy.
Emerging nations, which represent about half the world’s population and 40% of global economic output, have united over “serious concerns” about US import tariffs, a draft summit statement obtained by AFP on Saturday reveals.
Since coming to office in January, Trump has threatened allies and rivals alike with a slew of punitive duties.
His latest salvo comes in the form of letters informing trading partners of new tariff rates that will soon enter into force. The draft summit declaration does not mention the US or its president by name.
Additionally, it could yet be amended by leaders gathering for talks Sunday and Monday.
But it is a clear political shot directed at Washington from 11 emerging nations, including Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
“We voice serious concerns about the rise of unilateral tariff and non-tariff measures, which distort trade and are inconsistent with the WTO (World Trade Organisation) rules,” the draft text reads.
It warns that such measures “threaten to further reduce global trade” and are “affecting the prospects for global economic development”.
Conceived two decades ago as a forum for fast-growing economies, the BRICS have come to be seen as a Chinese-driven counterbalance to Western power.
But the summit’s political punch will be depleted by the absence of China’s Xi Jinping, who is skipping the annual meeting for the first time in his 12 years as president.
That absence has prompted fevered speculation in some quarters.
“The simplest explanation may hold the most explanatory power. Xi recently hosted Lula in Beijing,” said Ryan Hass, a former China director at the US National Security Council, who is now with the Brookings Institution think tank.
The Chinese leader will not be the only notable absentee.
War crime-indicted Russian president Vladimir Putin is also opting to stay away, but will participate via video link, the Kremlin states.
Hass said Putin’s non-attendance and the fact that Indian prime minister Narendra Modi will be a guest of honor in Brazil could also be factors in Xi’s absence.
“Xi does not want to appear upstaged by Modi,” who will receive a state lunch, he said.
“I expect Xi’s decision to delegate attendance to Premier Li (Qiang) rests amidst these factors.”
Still, the Xi no-show is a blow to host President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who wants Brazil to play a bigger role on the world stage.
– Nampa/AFP