As Renewed U.S. Tariffs Loom, Emerging Economies Turn to One Another
At a two-day gathering in Rio de Janeiro, members of the BRICS group that includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa and other nations, vowed to deepen ties and mulled ways they could cut red tape to make it easier to trade with one another.
Without naming the United States or Mr. Trump, the alliance criticized barriers to international trade and defended the right of its member countries, which represent more than 40 percent of the world's gross domestic product, to retaliate against what officials portrayed as unfair tariffs.
'We voice serious concerns about the rise of unilateral tariff and non-tariff measures, which distort trade,' the group said in a joint statement, calling for 'fair' and 'inclusive' trading rules, in line with international norms set by the World Trade Organization.
The effort to increase trade within the BRICS group highlights how Mr. Trump's tariffs are redrawing global economic relations and pushing America's trading partners to other markets.
It also comes as a 90-day pause on tariffs that Mr. Trump imposed on most of America's trade partners is set to expire on Wednesday. Despite ambitious plans to broker dozens of trade deals benefiting the United States, Mr. Trump has so far struck only two agreements, with Britain and Vietnam, though administration officials have said he will announce more trade deals this week.
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