BRICS ministers meet in Brazil over Trump trade policies
The meeting comes at a critical moment for the world economy after the International Monetary Fund this week slashed growth forecasts over the impact of the American leader's sweeping new tariffs.
Foreign ministers from the ten-member trading bloc -- which includes current-chair Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- will hold two days of talks in Rio de Janeiro, as a precursor to a July leaders summit.
Ahead of the gathering, Brazil's BRICS representative Mauricio Lyrio said diplomats were negotiating a joint declaration on "the centrality and importance of the multilateral trading system."
The BRICS grouping has expanded significantly since its 2009 inception, and now includes Iran, Egypt, Indonesia, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates. It makes up nearly half of the global population and 39 percent of global GDP.
Trump, since returning to the White House in January, has hit dozens of countries with a blanket 10 percent tariff, but China faces levies of up to 145 percent on many products.
Beijing has responded with duties of 125 percent on US goods.
At a summit last year, BRICS members discussed boosting non-dollar transactions, eliciting a swift rebuke from Trump, who threatened them with 100 percent tariffs if they undercut the US currency.
Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira will host this week's meeting that will be attended by Russia's Sergei Lavrov and China's Wang Yi among others.
Speaking to Brazil's O Globo newspaper, Lavrov said that BRICS nations planned to "increase the share of national currencies in transactions" between member states but said the talk of transitioning towards a unified BRICS currency was "premature."
Russian ceasefire
The group is also likely to discuss the war in Ukraine, as Trump seeks to push Moscow and Kyiv toward a peace agreement.
Russian President Vladimir Putin caused surprise on Monday by announcing a three-day ceasefire from May 8-10.
The White House suggested however that the pause was not satisfactory, saying that Trump had "made it clear he wants to see a permanent ceasefire first."
Trump appeared to turn against Putin at the weekend after a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at Pope Francis's funeral, saying he felt the Russian leader was "just tapping me along."
At the same time he has been pressuring Kyiv to give up hopes of reclaiming Russian-annexed Crimea.
Climate change is also expected to feature high on Brazil's agenda for the talks, which take place months before the major UN COP30 climate summit being hosted in the Amazon city of Belem.
The BRICS will be joined for discussions on Tuesday by nine other "partner" countries, including several former Soviet states, as well as Cuba, Malaysia, Thailand, Uganda and Nigeria.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
France 24
an hour ago
- France 24
Russia launches major attack on Ukraine, killing 5
Russian forces have accelerated attacks on Ukraine in recent weeks, with the Kremlin vowing to retaliate over a brazen attack on its air bases last weekend. In Kharkiv, Mayor Igor Terekhov counted 48 Iranian-made drones, two missiles and four guided bombs before dawn in the city of some 1.4 million residents located less than 50 kilometres from the Russian border in northeastern Ukraine.. "Kharkiv is currently experiencing the most powerful attack since the beginning of the full-scale war," Terekhov posted on Telegram around 4:40 am (0140 GMT), adding that drones were still buzzing overhead. The Russian strikes pummelled homes and apartment blocks, killing at least three people and wounding 17 more, the mayor said. A woman was also pulled alive from the rubble of a high-rise building. Kharkiv region Governor Oleg Synegubov said the wounded included two children. "Medical personnel are providing the necessary assistance," he wrote. The northeastern city was already reeling from an attack on Thursday that wounded at least 18 people, including four children. In the southern port city of Kherson, Russian shelling killed a couple and damaged two high-rise buildings, regional Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said. And in Dnipro, two women, aged 45 and 88, were injured in strikes, according to local officials. Rescuers in the western city of Lutsk, near the Polish border, meanwhile discovered a second fatality from Friday's strikes, describing the victim as a woman in her 20s. The aerial bombardments come days after Ukraine launched a brazen attack well beyond the frontlines, damaging nuclear-capable military planes at Russian air bases and prompting vows of revenge from Russian President Vladimir Putin. Ukraine has been pushing for an unconditional and immediate 30-day truce, issuing its latest proposal during peace talks in Istanbul on Monday. But Russia, which now controls around one-fifth of Ukraine's territory, has repeatedly rejected such offers to end its three-year war. The Kremlin said on Friday the Ukraine war was "existential" for Russia. Ceasefire hopes dim The comments are Moscow's latest to dampen hopes for a breakthrough amid a flurry of meetings between Russian and Ukrainian delegations, as well as telephone calls between President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump, aimed at stopping the fighting. "For us it is an existential issue, an issue on our national interest, safety, on our future and the future of our children, of our country," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, responding to remarks by Trump on Thursday comparing Moscow and Kyiv to brawling children. Ahead of the talks this week in Istanbul, an audacious Ukrainian drone attack damaged nuclear-capable military planes at Russian air bases, including thousands of kilometres behind the front lines in Siberia. Putin had told Trump he would retaliate for the brazen operation, 18 months in the planning, in which Ukraine smuggled more than 100 small drones into Russia, parked them near Russian air bases and unleashed them in a coordinated attack. Putin has issued a host of sweeping demands on Ukraine if it wants to halt the fighting. They include completely pulling troops out of four regions claimed by Russia, but which its army does not fully control, an end to Western military support, and a ban on Ukraine joining NATO. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has dismissed the demands as old ultimatums, questioned the purpose of more such talks and called for a summit to be attended by him, Putin and Trump. © 2025 AFP
France 24
2 hours ago
- France 24
Russia pummels Ukraine's Kharkiv in 'most powerful attack' since start of war
Russia pummelled Ukraine 's second-largest city before dawn on Saturday, killing three people in what Kharkiv's mayor described as the "most powerful attack" there since the start of the war. In recent weeks, Russian troops have accelerated their advance while the latest truce negotiations have failed to broker an end to the three-year war. "Kharkiv is currently experiencing the most powerful attack since the beginning of the full-scale war," Kharkiv Mayor Igor Terekhov posted on Telegram, describing a barrage of missiles, Iranian-made drones and guided bombs striking simultaneously. "As of now, at least 40 explosions have been heard in the city over the past hour and a half," he wrote at 4:40 am (0140 GMT), adding that drones were still buzzing overhead. "The threat remains." Three people were killed and 17 wounded, the mayor said. A woman was also pulled alive from the rubble of a high-rise building. Kharkiv regional Governor Oleg Synegubov said the wounded included two children. "Medical personnel are providing the necessary assistance," he wrote. The northeastern city was already reeling from an attack on Thursday that wounded at least 18 people, including four children. In the western city of Lutsk, near the Polish border, rescuers on Saturday discovered a second fatality from the previous day's strikes, describing the victim as a woman in her 20s. The aerial bombardments come days after Ukraine launched a brazen attack well beyond the frontlines, damaging nuclear-capable military planes at Russian air bases and prompting vows of revenge from Russian President Vladimir Putin. Ukraine has been pushing for an unconditional and immediate 30-day truce, issuing its latest proposal during peace talks in Istanbul on Monday. But Russia, which now controls around one-fifth of Ukraine's territory, has repeatedly rejected such offers.
LeMonde
4 hours ago
- LeMonde
Trump says he's focusing on Russia, China, Iran and 'not thinking about Elon Musk': 'I just wish him well'
US President Donald Trump said Friday, June 6, that Elon Musk had "lost his mind" but insisted he wanted to move on from the fiery split with his billionaire former ally. The blistering public break-up between the world's richest person and the world's most powerful is fraught with political and economic risks all around. Trump had scrapped the idea of a call with Musk and was even thinking of ditching the red Tesla he bought at the height of their bromance, White House officials told AFP. "Honestly I've been so busy working on China, working on Russia, working on Iran... I'm not thinking about Elon Musk, I just wish him well," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One en route to his New Jersey golf club late Friday. Earlier, Trump told US broadcasters that he now wanted to focus instead on passing his "big, beautiful" mega-bill before Congress – Musk's harsh criticism of which had sparked their break-up. But the 78-year-old Republican could not stop himself from taking aim at his South African-born friend-turned-enemy. "You mean the man who has lost his mind?" Trump said in a call with ABC when asked about Musk, adding that he was "not particularly" interested in talking to the tycoon. Trump later told Fox News that Musk had "lost it." Just a week ago Trump gave Musk a glowing send-off as he left his cost-cutting role at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) after four months working there. 'Very disappointed' While there had been reports of tensions, the sheer speed at which their relationship imploded stunned Washington. After Musk called Trump's spending bill an "abomination" on Tuesday, Trump hit back in an Oval Office diatribe on Thursday in which he said he was "very disappointed" by the entrepreneur. Trump's spending bill faces a difficult path through Congress as it will raise the US deficit, while critics say it will cut health care for millions of the poorest Americans. The row then went nuclear, with Musk slinging insults at Trump and accusing him without evidence of being in government files on disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Trump hit back with the power of the US government behind him, saying he could cancel the SpaceX boss's multi-billion-dollar rocket and satellite contracts. Trump struck a milder tone late Friday when asked how seriously he is considering cutting Musk's contracts. "It's a lot of money, it's a lot of subsidy, so we'll take a look – only if it's fair. Only if it's to be fair for him and the country," he said. Musk apparently also tried to de-escalate social media hostilities. The right-wing tech baron rowed back on a threat to scrap his company's Dragon spacecraft – vital for ferrying NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station. And on Friday, the usually garrulous poster kept a low social media profile on his X social network. But the White House denied reports that they would talk. "The president does not intend to speak to Musk today," a senior White House official told AFP. A second official said Musk had requested a call. Tesla giveaway? Tesla stocks tanked more than 14% on Thursday amid the row, losing some $100 billion of the company's market value, but recovered partly on Friday. Trump is now considering either selling or giving away the cherry red Tesla S that he announced he had bought from Musk's firm in March. The electric vehicle was still parked on the White House grounds on Friday. "He's thinking about it, yes," a senior White House official told AFP when asked if Trump would sell or give it away. Trump and Musk had posed inside the car at a bizarre event in March, when the president turned the White House into a pop-up Tesla showroom after viral protests against Musk's DOGE role. But while Trump appeared to hold many of the cards, Musk also has some to play. His wealth allowed him to be the biggest donor to Trump's 2024 campaign, to the tune of nearly $300 million. Any further support for the 2026 midterm election now appears in doubt –while Musk could also use his money to undermine Trump's support on the right.
