Rio to host BRICS summit wary of Trump
The city, with beefed-up security, will play host to leaders and diplomats from 11 emerging economies, including China, India, Russia and South Africa, which represent nearly half of the world's population and 40% of its GDP.
Brazil's left-wing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will have to navigate the absence of Chinese President Xi Jinping, who will miss the summit for the first time.
Beijing will instead be represented by its Prime Minister Li Qiang.
Russian leader Vladimir Putin, who is facing a pending International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant, will not travel to Brazil, but is set to participate via video link, according to the Kremlin.
Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian, fresh from a 12-day conflict with Israel and a skirmish with the United States, will also be absent, as will his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, a Brazilian government source told AFP.
Tensions in the Middle East, including Israel's ongoing war in Gaza, will weigh on the summit, as well as the grim anticipation of tariffs threatened by Trump due next week.
'CAUTIOUS'
"We're anticipating a summit with a cautious tone: it will be difficult to mention the United States by name in the final declaration," Marta Fernandez, director of the BRICS Policy Center at Rio's Pontifical Catholic University, told AFP.
China, for example, "is trying to adopt a restrained position on the Middle East", Fernandez said, pointing out that Beijing was also in tricky tariff negotiations with Washington.
"This doesn't seem to be the right time to provoke further friction" between the world's two leading economies, the researcher said.
BRICS members did not issue a strong statement on the Iran-Israel conflict and subsequent US military strikes due to their "diverging" interests, according to Oliver Stuenkel, an international relations professor at the Getulio Vargas Foundation.
Brazil, nevertheless, hopes that countries can take a common stand at the summit, including on the most sensitive issues.
"BRICS (countries), throughout their history, have managed to speak with one voice on major international issues, and there's no reason why that shouldn't be the case this time on the subject of the Middle East," Brazil's Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira told AFP.
'MULTILATERALISM'
However, talks on finding an alternative to the dollar for trade between BRICS members are likely dead in the water.
For Fernandez, it is almost "forbidden" to mention the idea within the group since Trump threatened to impose 100% tariffs on countries that challenge the dollar's international dominance.
Brazil, which in 2030 will host the COP30 UN climate conference, also hopes to find unity on the fight against climate change.
Artificial intelligence and global governance reform will also be on the menu.
"The escalation of the Middle East conflict reinforces the urgency of the debate on the need to reform global governance and strengthen multilateralism," said Foreign Minister Vieira.
Since 2023, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, Iran and Indonesia have joined the BRICS, formed in 2009 as a counter-balance to leading Western economies.
But, as Fernandez points out, this expansion "makes it all the more difficult to build a strong consensus."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
TimesLIVE
36 minutes ago
- TimesLIVE
Hamas says it responds to Gaza ceasefire proposal in 'a positive spirit'
Hamas said it had responded on Friday in 'a positive spirit' to a US-brokered Gaza ceasefire proposal and was prepared to enter into talks on implementing the deal, which envisages a release of hostages and negotiations on ending the conflict. US President Donald Trump had announced a 'final proposal' for a 60-day ceasefire in the nearly 21-month-old war between Israel and Hamas, saying he anticipated a reply from the parties in coming hours. Hamas wrote on its official website: 'The Hamas movement has completed its internal consultations as well as discussions with Palestinian factions and forces regarding the latest proposal by the mediators to halt the aggression against our people in Gaza. 'The movement has delivered its response to the brotherly mediators, which was characterised by a positive spirit. Hamas is fully prepared, with all seriousness, to immediately enter a new round of negotiations on the mechanism for implementing this framework,' the statement said. In a sign of potential challenges still facing the sides, a Palestinian official of a militant group allied with Hamas said concerns remained over humanitarian aid, passage through the Rafah crossing to Egypt and clarity over a timetable of Israeli troop withdrawals. Trump said on Tuesday that Israel had agreed 'to the necessary conditions to finalise' a 60-day ceasefire, during which efforts would be made to end the US ally's war in the Palestinian enclave. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is due to meet Trump in Washington on Monday, has yet to comment on Trump's announcement, and in their public statements the two sides remain far apart. Netanyahu has repeatedly said Hamas must be disarmed, a position the militant group, which is thought to be holding 20 living hostages, has so far refused to discuss. Israeli media cited an Israeli official as saying that Israel had received and was looking into Hamas' response to the ceasefire proposal. Trump expressed optimism late on Friday to reporters aboard Air Force One, who asked about Hamas' response. 'They said they gave me a positive response? Well, that's good,' Trump said, adding that he had not yet been briefed. 'There could be a Gaza deal next week.'
Daily Maverick
3 hours ago
- Daily Maverick
‘Still room for engagement' says Parks Tau as Trump's tariff deadline looms
South Africa has been pushing to negotiate a trade deal with the US in order to prevent US President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs. Minister for Trade, Industry and Competition Parks Tau says the US has signalled that there's 'still room for engagement' on South Africa's request for an extension of the 90-day pause on new US tariffs. This comes as US President Donald Trump said on Friday morning, 4 July, that the White House will begin notifying countries about new tariffs being imposed on them. Some tariffs, Trump said, could be even steeper than originally announced, according to a report from The New York Times. Trump imposed a 30% tariff on SA in April, as part of his global 'reciprocal' tariffs, before agreeing to suspend their application for 90 days, saying he would hammer out bilateral deals with trade partners. The 90-day pause on Trump's tariff hikes will end on 9 July. SA, and other countries around the globe, have been pushing to negotiate trade deals with the US in order to prevent Trump's sweeping tariffs. The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC) said this week that SA has requested an extension of the 90-day pause, to enable it to revise its proposed deal in accordance with the Trump administration's new template for US trade with sub-Saharan Africa. 'In this regard, we are of the view that South Africa may need to resubmit its Framework Deal in accordance with the new template. It is thus expected that the deadline may be shifted,' said Tau in a statement on Tuesday, 1 July. 'We urge the South African industry to exercise strategic patience and not take decisions in haste and that government will continue to use every avenue to engage the US government to find [an] amicable solution to safeguard South African interests in the US market,' he added. The US's plan to introduce a new trade template with countries in sub-Saharan Africa emerged in engagements between Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Zuko Godlimpi, and the Assistant US Trade Representative for Africa, Connie Hamilton, on the sidelines of the US-Africa Summit in Luanda, Angola, in June. 'Very good' engagement According to Tau, Godlimpi had a 'very good' engagement with Hamilton, where there was an 'indication that there is still room for engagement'. He told Daily Maverick on Friday that he believed discussions with the US will continue beyond 9 July. 'We submitted a draft Framework Agreement and they [the US] have not responded. They indicated that they are not in a position to finalise that right now, so it is their intention that discussions would go on beyond the 9th. So at this point we are awaiting an announcement from them,' Tau said. SA initially submitted a proposed Framework Deal to the US on 20 May, a day before President Cyril Ramaphosa and Trump met at the White House in Washington, DC. The initial proposal included deals on agriculture, critical minerals, automotives and other exports. 'The Framework Deal addresses US concerns relating to, among others, non-tariff barriers, trade deficit, and commercial relations through two-way procurement or import of strategic goods. It aims to also resolve long-standing market access issues of interest to both sides and to promote bilateral investments in a mutually beneficial manner,' read the DTIC statement this week. SA is also seeking to have some of its key exports exempt from the Sections 232 duties, including autos, auto parts, steel and aluminum. It is also seeking a maximum tariff application of 10% 'as a worst case scenario', according to the DTIC. 'The Framework also seeks exemption for Small and Medium Enterprises, counter-seasonal products and products that the US does not have productive capacity for,' it said. What's at stake? The US is South Africa's second-largest trading partner after China. More than 600 American firms are operating in SA. In 2024, trade between SA and the US totalled $20.5-billion, with South African exports consisting largely of precious metals, cars and auto parts, iron and steel, and aluminium products, Daily Maverick reported. SA has benefited immensely from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) which has enabled it to export a range of products and goods to the US market duty-free. But Trump's new tariff regime would upend the country's long-standing arrangement under Agoa. Professor Bob Wekesa, director of Wits University's African Centre for the Study of the United States, said he believed SA has tried its best to reach a bilateral agreement with the US. 'I don't think we should dismiss the efforts of the Government of National Unity… I think they've done their best,' he said. 'The tricky part is that Trump has refined the art of raising the bar; raising so many issues that you come kneeling before him, you come to the negotiations on the back foot.' He said that while countries such as the UK and Vietnam have both reached trade agreements with the US in recent weeks, South Africa was bound to struggle because 'it's being targeted on other fronts, which are political [and] diplomatic'. Nevertheless, Wekesa said it would be 'disastrous' for SA if Trump's tariffs were to come into effect again. 'It would mean that South African goods and services are impacted – almost a cessation of trade – particularly in critical areas like agricultural products, and specifically the citrus market, in areas of manufacturing, particularly in motor vehicles, and of course, related fields,' he said. He added that it would be a 'big hit' for SA's economy. This will have an 'immediate impact' on the budgets and resources that the government can use for service delivery, according to Wekesa. 'This will of course be on top of the cessation of funding that was coming through USAID [United States Agency for International Development],' he said. Wekesa noted that South Africa is 'not the only country' that has certain critical minerals, like platinum and hydroxide. Next week, Trump will host leaders from five African nations in Washington to discuss 'commercial opportunities', according to a Reuters report. 'These countries also have critical minerals. So the idea that [the] US will lose out on the export of those minerals [from SA], I don't think, is a very strong one… The leaders of Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Gabon, Mauritania, and Liberia are heading to the US. When you look at all the critical minerals from those countries they include all these minerals… One wonders if the US is actually divesting away from South Africa, or reliance on South Africa, by going to these countries to see if it can strike a deal. 'In many of these countries they don't have proper critical minerals policies or strategies – they are essentially weak countries, so the US can strike deals quite fast there,' he said. DM
The Citizen
5 hours ago
- The Citizen
PODCAST: Chery Tiggo Cross takes fight to Toyota Corolla Cross
Chinese carmaker claims that their new hybrid SUV is both fast and very frugal. When Toyota updated the Corolla Cross at the start of the year, The Citizen Motoring said that the crossover SUV has dodged the Chinese bullet. Not anymore with the introduction of the Chery Tiggo Cross hybrid. The Chinese carmaker has launched a massive price offensive on the Toyota Corolla Cross, the best-selling new energy vehicle in South Africa by a country mile. The Tiggo Cross self-charging hybrid is now on sale from R439 900, which is R54 500 less than the most affordable Corolla Cross HEV in Xs guise at R494 400. Even the top spec Chery Tiggo Cross hybrid in Elite guise at R469 900 is still R24 500 cheaper than the Xs hybrid. ALSO READ: Hybrid Tiggo Cross declares war on Toyota Corolla Cross Chery Tiggo Cross makes a Pitstop In this week's episode of the Pitstop podcast, we discuss what the emergence of the Chery means for Toyota. The Chery Tiggo Cross hybrid uses a combination of a 1.5-litre naturally aspirated petrol engine and electric motor powered by a 1.83kWh battery pack. The combined power output is an impressive 150kW and 310Nm which is sent to the front wheels by a dedicated hybrid transmission. The Toyota Corolla Cross has a combined power output of 90kW/142Nm. The Citizen Motoring drive the Chery Tiggo Cross hybrid briefly in China in April, but not on a public road. A little gymkhana course in a parking lot was enough to showcase its power. Fuel economy key What will be key for Chery is what kind of fuel economy it can achieve in real life. The claim is 5.4 litres per 100km, which is very much on par with the real-life number we have recorded in the Toyota Corolla Cross. We are getting a Chery Tiggo Cross hybrid on test soon. We will then find how not just how fast, but also how frugal it really is.
