Trump Threatens Tariffs For Countries Backing ‘Anti-American’ Global Alliance

President Donald Trump warned on Sunday that any countries considering alignment with the BRICS intergovernmental organization would face an additional 10% tariff, with no exceptions.

The BRICS group was initially founded in 2009 by Brazil, Russia, India, and China as a forum for discussing coordinated policies, much like the G7 countries, which include the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom. Other countries that have joined BRICS include South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

“Any Country aligning themselves with the Anti-American policies of BRICS, will be charged an ADDITIONAL 10% Tariff,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “There will be no exceptions to this policy. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

Last December, as president-elect, Trump warned the BRICS countries against developing a currency to challenge the American dollar, stating, “The idea that the BRICS Countries are trying to move away from the Dollar while we stand by and watch is OVER.”

“China and Russia see BRICS as a way to challenge the United States’ influence on geopolitics and decision-making, and have pushed the group to grow in size,” The New York Times has noted.

Meanwhile, at the BRICS summit on Sunday in Brazil, representatives of the Iranian government, seeking allies, attended the meeting. On Sunday, the BRICS group issued a statement condemning President Trump’s strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, calling them a “violation of international law.”

In January, nine countries became “partner states” with BRICS, a first step toward joining and becoming official members. Those countries included Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Thailand, Uganda, and Uzbekistan. Last month, Vietnam became another “partner state,” a designation that permits a country to participate in BRICS summits and other discussion sessions.

At the meeting in Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, the chair of the New Development Bank (NDB), which was established by the BRICS nations, boasted, “Today we have strong credit ratings, including a AAA grade from the Japanese agency JCR, and we are expanding into new markets, such as yen-denominated instruments and the Middle East,” then warned against economies relying on the U.S. dollar for external financing, as she declared,  “Any business or government that borrows in foreign currency becomes subject to decisions made by the Federal Reserve or other central banks in developed nations.”

“As a concrete example of this alternative approach, she pointed to a project in Brazil funded directly in renminbi, without the need for dollar conversion,” the BRICS portal reported.