Brazilian President Lula responded to Trump’s tariff threats by saying the world does not ‘want an emperor’ who lashes out over the internet.
United States President Donald Trump has threatened to hike tariffs against the BRICS economic bloc after the group offered indirect criticism of trade wars and the recent military attacks in Iran.
On Monday, Trump took aim at the 10-member bloc, which seeks to strengthen emerging economies, framing its interests as adversarial to the US’s.
“Any Country aligning themselves with the Anti-American policies of BRICS, will be charged an ADDITIONAL 10% Tariff,” Trump wrote in a post. “There will be no exceptions to this policy. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
BRICS is named for its founding members, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. But it has grown to include other countries, such as Indonesia, Egypt, Iran and the United Arab Emirates.
Over the weekend, the group held its 17th summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The meeting culminated in a declaration angled at promoting peace and global cooperation.
But several items in the joint declaration appeared to be aimed at the US and its ally Israel, even though neither was identified by name. Under a section entitled “Strengthening Multilateralism and Reforming Global Governance”, for instance, the BRICS leaders called out the increasing use of tariffs in global trade.
This seemed directed at Trump, who has threatened US trading partners with a suite of tariffs to negotiate more favourable trade deals and exact policy concessions.
The US president has also called tariffs “the most beautiful word to me in the dictionary”, though many economists warn that the cost of such import taxes is often offset onto consumers.
Trump has also championed the use of other protectionist economic policies, under the banner of his “America First” agenda. But the BRICS leaders warned that these kinds of policies could backfire.
“We voice serious concerns about the rise of unilateral tariff and non-tariff measures which distort trade and are inconsistent with WTO [World Trade Organization] rules,” the BRICS leaders said in their statement.
Such measures, they continued, could “reduce global trade, disrupt global supply chains, and introduce uncertainty into international economic and trade activities, potentially exacerbating existing economic disparities”.
The BRICS leaders also used their declaration to denounce the recent military strikes on one of the bloc’s member nations, Iran.
“We condemn the military strikes against the Islamic Republic of Iran since 13 June 2025, which constitute a violation of international law,” they wrote, adding that “peaceful nuclear facilities” had been targeted.
Israel carried out the first attacks against Iran in the 12-day war on June 13, and on June 22, the US sent seven B-2 Spirit stealth bombers to Iran to strike three nuclear facilities. Both Israel and the US have maintained that these actions were necessary to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, though Iran has denied seeking one.
In the wake of Trump’s tariff threat, BRICS leaders rushed to assure their US counterparts that they are not seeking confrontation. Others, however, chafed at Trump’s remarks.
“I became aware of what President Trump tweeted, and I think there needs to be greater appreciation of the emergence of various centres of power in the world,” said South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. “And this should be seen in a positive light, rather than in a negative light.”
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took an even blunter approach to Trump’s threats.
“I don’t think it’s very responsible or serious for the president of a country as big as the United States to go around threatening the world through the internet,” Lula said in a question-and-answer session with reporters.
“It’s not right. The world has changed. We don’t want an emperor.”
