By Andrea Shalal and Ricardo Brito
WASHINGTON/BRASILIA (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday the U.S. would “pretty soon” charge a 10% tariff on imports from BRICS countries, drawing another complaint from Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who just hosted the bloc’s annual summit.
Trump, who raised the tariff threat on Sunday, said in a Tuesday cabinet meeting at the White House that the duty was on the way: “Anybody that’s in BRICS is getting a 10% charge pretty soon … If they’re a member of BRICS, they’re going to have to pay a 10% tariff … and they won’t be a member long.”
The BRICS group expanded last year beyond Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa to include members such as Iran and Indonesia. Leaders at the summit in Rio de Janeiro voiced indirect criticism of U.S. military and trade policies.
Asked about Trump’s tariff threat, Lula told journalists at the BRICS summit on Monday that the world does not want an emperor. After a state visit from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Lula on Tuesday expressed further disagreement.
“We will not accept any complaints about the BRICS summit. We do not agree with the U.S. president insinuating he’s going to put tariffs on BRICS countries,” he told journalists in Brasilia.
Trump gave no specific date for the BRICS tariff to kick in. On Monday, a source familiar with the matter said the Trump administration would charge the tariff only if countries adopted anti-American policies, differentiating actions from statements like the one adopted by the BRICS leaders on Sunday.
Trump claimed without evidence on Tuesday that the group was set up to hurt the United States and he U.S. dollar’s role as the world’s reserve currency. He said he would not allow that to happen.
“BRICS was set up to degenerate our dollar and take our dollar … take it off as the standard,” he said. “And that’s okay if they want to play that game, but I can play that game too.”
Trump said losing the dollar’s role as the world’s reserve currency would be like “losing a war, a major world war. We would not be the same country any longer.”
Brazil in February nixed plans for a common currency agenda during its presidency year.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal in Washington and Ricardo Brito in Brasilia; Additional reporting by Gabriel Araujo in Sao Paulo; Writing by Bhargav Acharya and Brad Haynes; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
