BRICS leaders meet virtually amid tensions with Trump

Amid tariff tensions with US President Donald Trump, BRICS leaders began a virtual meeting on Monday 8 to discuss the “defense of multilateralism,” the Brazilian government said.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva called the video conference, which will also be attended by his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, according to their respective governments.

In a statement to AFP , the Brazilian presidency of the bloc said that the main focus of the virtual summit will be the defense of multilateralism, one of the central agendas of the BRICS .

A final statement is expected after the meeting.

The US president imposed punitive tariffs on products from some BRICS partners, increasing tensions between the world's leading power and this bloc made up of emerging economies such as Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Lula said Trump considers himself an "emperor" after imposing 50% tariffs on Brazilian exports, arguing that there is a "witch hunt" against his far-right ally, former President Jair Bolsonaro.

The Supreme Federal Court (STF) will decide this week whether Bolsonaro attempted a coup d'état after losing the 2022 election to Lula.

The White House also imposed sanctions on Brazilian ministers and officials to lobby Bolsonaro.

Before his bilateral confrontation with Brazil, Trump had targeted the BRICS as a whole in July.

Amid the group's summit in Rio de Janeiro, the American president published a series of messages threatening to impose tariffs on "any country that aligns" with Brics .

On Monday, the group's heads of state will also coordinate their participation in 2025 events, such as the UN General Assembly , the COP30 climate conference in Belém, Pará, and the G20 summit in South Africa. Trump has already announced that he will not participate in the latter.

Since 2023, the list of BRICS partners has expanded to include Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, Indonesia, and Iran, all of which joined the group founded in 2009 to strengthen the so-called “Global South.”

The group represents about 40% of the world's GDP and almost half of the planet's population.