Trump threatens additional 10% duty on countries supporting anti-American policies of BRICS

U.S. President Donald Trump has issued a stern warning to countries aligning themselves with the BRICS bloc, stating they will face additional tariffs for supporting what he described as “anti-American policies.”

In a post on social media, Trump declared, “Any country aligning itself with the Anti-American policies of BRICS will face an additional 10 per cent tariff on goods. There will be no exceptions to this policy,” adding, “Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

The strong statement signals a hardening of Washington’s position toward BRICS—a group consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, along with several developing nations that have joined in recent years. The bloc now represents nearly half of the world’s population and contributes around 40 percent to global GDP. BRICS nations also account for roughly a quarter of global trade and investment flows.

Trump’s message came shortly after BRICS finance ministers and central bank governors, in a joint statement from their recent meeting, raised concerns over unilateral trade and financial measures that they argue violate international norms.

“We voiced our serious concerns with the unilateral imposition of trade and finance-related actions, including the raising of tariffs and non-tariff measures which distort trade and are inconsistent with World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules,” the BRICS statement read.

It further emphasized the coalition’s commitment to global cooperation, stating, “In this testing environment, BRICS members have demonstrated resilience and will continue to cooperate among themselves and with other countries to safeguard and strengthen the non-discriminatory, open, fair, inclusive, equitable, transparent, and rules-based multilateral trading system with the WTO at its core, avoiding trade wars that could plunge the global economy into recession or further prolong subdued growth.”

Amid rising tensions, Trump also announced the imminent rollout of U.S. Tariff Letters and Deals. In a separate post, he said the documents would be sent out starting 12:00 p.m. (Eastern Time) on Monday, July 7, just two days before the expiry of a previously announced tariff moratorium.

Earlier, on April 9, Trump had postponed tariff enforcement for a period of three months. With that pause set to expire on July 9, attention is now focused on which nations will receive the new tariff notifications and how they might respond.