
BRICS to denounce Trump tariffs
BRICS leaders meeting in Rio de Janeiro from Sunday are expected to decry Donald Trump's hardline trade policies, but are struggling to bridge divides over crises roiling the Middle East.
Emerging nations representing about half the world's population and 40 percent of global economic output are set to unite over what they see as unfair US import tariffs, according to sources familiar with summit negotiations.
Since coming to office in January, Trump has threatened allies and rivals alike with a slew of punitive tariffs.
His latest salvo comes in the form of letters due to be sent starting Friday informing trading partners of new tariff rates expected next week on July 9.
Diplomats from 11 emerging nations, including Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, have been busy drafting a statement condemning the economic uncertainty.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Business Recorder
2 hours ago
- Business Recorder
Trump criticizes Putin after approving more weapons for Ukraine
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he had approved sending U.S. defensive weapons to Ukraine and was considering additional sanctions on Moscow, underscoring his frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the growing death toll in Russia's war with Ukraine. Trump, who pledged as a presidential candidate to end the war within a day, has not been able to follow through on that promise and efforts by his administration to broker peace have come up short. Trump directed his ire at Putin on Tuesday during a meeting with cabinet officials at the White House. 'I'm not happy with Putin. I can tell you that much right now,' Trump said, noting that Russian and Ukrainian soldiers were dying in the thousands. 'We get a lot of bullshit thrown at us by Putin … He's very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless,' Trump said Trump says Ukraine will need Patriot missiles for its defense, chides Putin Trump said he was considering whether to support a bill in the Senate that would impose steep sanctions on Russia over the war. 'I'm looking at it very strongly,' he said. The bill, whose lead sponsors are Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, would also punish other countries that trade with Moscow, imposing 500% tariffs on nations that buy Russian oil, gas, uranium and other exports. Defensive weapons against russian advances Trump said on Monday that the United States would send more weapons to Ukraine, primarily defensive ones, to help it defend itself against Russian advances. On Tuesday he said he had approved such a move. 'We're sending some defensive weapons to Ukraine, and I've approved that,' he said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday he had ordered an expansion of contacts with the United States to ensure critical deliveries of military supplies, primarily air defence. 'We currently have all the necessary political statements and decisions and we must implement them as quickly as possible to protect our people and positions,' he said. Europe must 'step up' as US halts some arms to Ukraine: EU chief 'These are critical deliveries that mean saving lives and protecting Ukrainian cities and villages. I expect results from these contacts very soon. And this week, we are preparing formats for meetings of our military and political teams.' Zelenskiy has repeatedly urged Ukraine's Western allies to impose tougher sanctions on Moscow to force the Kremlin to agree to a ceasefire as a step towards reaching an end to the war, now 40 months old. A decision by the Pentagon to halt some shipments of critical weapons to Ukraine prompted warnings by Kyiv last week that the move would weaken its ability to defend against Russia's intensifying airstrikes and battlefield advances. Trump, who was seated next to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, was asked on Tuesday who had ordered that pause. 'I don't know. Why don't you tell me?' Trump responded.


Express Tribune
2 hours ago
- Express Tribune
Waning US power
Listen to article The US is accelerating its own decline through a toxic cocktail of fiscal recklessness, diplomatic retreat and humanitarian abandonment. By voluntarily withdrawing from the world order, the US has created space for several other countries to raise their international profiles, particularly in terms of economic stability, alliance leadership and moral authority. At home, American debt has reached $36 trillion, and for the first time ever, net interest payments are exceeding defence spending — 3.1% of GDP and 2.9%, respectively. Some historians see this as a sign of a country's global power waning. In May, credit rating agency Moody's downgraded the US for the first time since 1919, citing the country's rising debt and erratic trade policies. The addition of over $3 trillion in debt via tax cuts for the ultra-rich and destabilising funding cuts for foreign aid and domestic social services, passed last week, may lead to another downgrade. China, Russia, Brazil and other regional and emerging powers, such as the BRICs bloc — which includes all three countries — are among the biggest beneficiaries of Washington's erratic polices regarding things such as NATO, the WHO and the entire concept of foreign aid. As many academics and experts have noted, USAID is probably the best thing to ever come out of Washington. The decision to gut it is expected to cause at least 14 million additional deaths around the world by 2030. Depending on their regional geopolitics, most countries around the world have shifted their focus away from the US and are now looking to China and the EU for assistance and leadership over the past decade. China, in particular, has capitalised on this, by expanding the scope of its Belt and Road Initiative and using aid, particularly vaccine diplomacy, to fill critical gaps around the world. The end result of this US withdrawal is that now, as BRICs and other international alliances work to further their own interests, the US sits alone, reduced to barking threats that, if implemented, will spell disaster for its own citizens.


Express Tribune
2 hours ago
- Express Tribune
Iran denies seeking talks with US after Trump's claim
Trump said Monday that Iran was seeking talks with the United States and that they had been scheduled, without specifying the time or the location. PHOTO:FILE Listen to article Iran said Tuesday it has not made any request for talks with the United States, after President Donald Trump said Tehran was seeking negotiations following last month's war with Israel. "No request for a meeting has been made on our side to the American side," said Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei, according to Tasnim news agency. Trump said Monday that Iran was seeking talks with the United States and that they had been scheduled, without specifying the time or the location. "We have scheduled Iran talks. They want to talk," Trump told reporters in the White House where he was meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "They want to meet. They want to work something out. They're very different now than they were two weeks ago." Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also reiterated Tehran's position rejecting talks at this stage. Read more: Iran president says Israel tried to assassinate him "Although Iran has in recent days received messages indicating that the US may be ready to return to negotiations, how can we trust further engagement?" the Iranian top diplomat said in a piece he wrote for the Financial Times. On June 13, Israel launched an unprecedented bombing campaign on Iran that targeted military and nuclear sites as well as residential areas, and killed senior military commanders and nuclear scientists. The attacks began days before a planned meeting between Tehran and Washington aimed at reviving nuclear negotiations. The talks have since stalled. The United States, which had been in talks with Iran since April 12, joined Israel in carrying out its own strikes on June 22, targeting Iranian nuclear sites at Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz. "After agreeing to new negotiations in good faith, we have seen our good will reciprocated with an attack by two nuclear-armed militaries," Araghchi, who was also Iran's top negotiator during the talks with the US, said in the Financial Times piece. "Iran remains interested in diplomacy, but we have good reason to have doubts about further dialogue." On Tuesday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian came under fire domestically after voicing support for renewed talks with the United States, with critics accusing him of being "too soft" in the wake of last month's attacks on the country. Also read: Tehran open to dialogue with US: Pezeshkian The backlash followed the release of an interview with US media personality Tucker Carlson, in which Pezeshkian said Iran had "no problem" resuming talks so long as trust could be rebuilt between the two sides. "Have you forgotten that these same Americans, together with the Zionists, used the negotiations to buy time and prepare for the attack?" said an editorial in the hardline Kayhan newspaper, which has long opposed engagement with the West. The conservative Javan daily also took aim at Pezeshkian, saying his remarks appeared "a little too soft". In contrast, the reformist Ham Mihan newspaper praised Pezeshkian's "positive approach". "This interview should have been conducted a long time ago," it wrote, adding that "Iranian officials have unfortunately long been absent from the international and American media landscape." Iranian authorities say the Israeli strikes killed at last 1,060 people. Israel, in turn, was hit by waves of retaliatory drone and missile fire, which authorities said left at least 28 people dead. A ceasefire between Iran and Israel has been in place since June 24.