Trump tariff threat clouds final day of BRICS summit

Source: CNA | Original Published At: 2025-07-07 18:31:00 UTC

Key Points

• BRICS has evolved into a Chinese-driven platform to counter US global influence
• The bloc contains both US adversaries (Iran, Russia) and US allies across multiple regions
• Some members attempted to avoid direct criticism of Trump in summit statements
• Saudi Arabia avoided visible participation to prevent US backlash
• Trump maintained a firm stance on tariffs despite diplomatic considerations

Conceived two decades ago as a forum for fast-growing economies, BRICS has come to be seen as a Chinese-driven effort to curb US global influence.

But it is a quickly expanding and often divergent grouping – bringing together arch US foes like Iran and Russia, with some of Washington’s closest allies in Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.

Some US allies inside the bloc had tried to blunt criticism of Trump by not mentioning him or the United States by name in the summit statement.

Saudi Arabia – one of the biggest purchasers of US high-tech weapons – even kept its foreign minister away from Sunday’s talks and a BRICS group photo, seemingly to avoid Washington’s ire.

But such diplomatic gestures were lost on the US president who said “There will be no exceptions to this policy”.