China said BRICS does not seek confrontation and does not target any country after President Donald Trump threatened a new 10 percent tariff.
Trump said in a July 6 post on Truth Social that the additional levy would hit any country "aligning themselves with the Anti-American policies of BRICS," an economic group of developing countries. He said there would be no exceptions.
"BRICS is an important platform for cooperation among emerging markets in developing countries," said Mao Ning, a spokeswoman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, at her press briefing on July 7.
"It advocates openness, inclusiveness, and willing cooperation. It is not a bloc for confrontation, nor does it target any country.
"On the U.S. tariff hikes, China has made its position clear more than once. Trade wars and tariff wars have no winners, and protectionism leads nowhere."
Trump Sending Tariff Letters
Trump has also said he would begin sending out tariff letters or announcing trade deals on July 7, as his 90-day pause on his reciprocal tariffs nears its conclusion.
The U.S. president is using tariffs to force better market access for American firms or to protect them from what he says is unfair global competition stemming from imbalanced trading relationships. He wants to revive and restore the domestic manufacturing sector.
The reimposition of Trump's higher tariffs, and also retaliatory measures from U.S. trading partners who did not reach a deal in time, threatens to pull global trade back to where it was in April, with widespread disruption, market volatility and looming economic pain.
China and the U.S. recently came to an agreement on trade that saw Washington loosen some of its restrictions and Beijing accelerate rare earth exports. The deal will keep tariffs at their reduced levels from the sky-high rates of the recent trade war between the two.
BRICS Summit Slams Tariffs
BRICS is formed of 11 countries: Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, Indonesia and Iran.
The group held its 17th BRICS summit in Brazil over the weekend. At the summit, the BRICS bloc condemned the increase in tariffs and attacks on Iran but refrained from naming Trump.
The group's declaration, which also took aim at Israel's military actions in the Middle East, also spared Russia from criticism, and mentioned war-torn Ukraine just once.
Xi, Putin Absent
The two-day summit was marked by the absences of two of its most powerful members.
Chinese President Xi Jinping did not attend a BRICS summit for the first time since he became his country's leader in 2012.
President Vladimir Putin, who spoke via videoconference, continues to mostly avoid traveling abroad due to an international arrest warrant issued after Russia invaded Ukraine.
In an indirect swipe at the U.S, the group's declaration raised "serious concerns" about the rise of tariffs, which it said were "inconsistent with WTO (World Trade Organization) rules."
The BRICS added that those restrictions "threaten to reduce global trade, disrupt global supply chains, and introduce uncertainty."
Newsweek