President Donald Trump has threatened new tariffs on any nation supporting anti-American policies of the BRICS group of emerging economies, as he announced tariff letters would be sent out to scores of countries from Monday, ahead of a key deadline.In a Truth Social post on Sunday, Trump said the US would impose an additional 10% tariff on any country aligning themselves with the Anti-American policies of BRICS with no exceptions, though it was not immediately clear which policies Trump was referring to.The BRICS group, an acronym of founding members Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, has long stood as a disparate body of countries united by a shared view that global power-sharing should be redistributed to reflect current global economic realities for a multipolar as opposed to a West-led world order.The group has recently expanded to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates as members, and has ten lower-level partner countries - including Belarus, Nigeria, Thailand and Vietnam.
Its not clear if Saudi Arabia has accepted an invitation to join the economic club.Brazil is currently hosting a BRICS summit, with leaders releasing a joint declaration on Sunday voicing serious concerns about the rise of unilateral tariff and non-tariff measures an apparent a veiled jibe at the Trump administrations trade policy.The US administrations 90-day tariff pause is set to come to an end on Wednesday and Trump confirmed on Sunday night that letters will be sent out to dozens of countries from Monday.I am pleased to announce that the UNITED STATES TARIFF Letters, and/or Deals, with various Countries from around the World, will be delivered starting 12:00 P.M.
(Eastern), Monday, July 7th, he said in a separate Truth Social on Sunday night.If you dont move things along, then on August 1 you will boomerang back to your April 2 tariff level, Bessent said about trading partners Sunday on CNNs State of the Union with Dana Bash.Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent previously said that tariffs could return to April levels, if countries failed to strike a deal with the US.Trump has suggested the letters would include duty rates at the current 10% baseline, or as extensive as 70%.
Bessent said Sunday the United States would not impose 70% tariff rates on major trading partners.Were gonna be sending letters out on Monday having to do with the trade deals.
Could be 12, maybe 15 and weve made deals, also, Trump told CNNs Betsy Klein when asked about tariff rates late Sunday afternoon at Morristown Municipal Airport in New Jersey.Following Bessents comments, Trump added that letters will continue to go out on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Well have most countries done by July 9 either a letter or a deal, he said earlier on Sunday.The president is right in the midst of discussing all sorts of deals with all sorts of countries, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told reporters Sunday alongside Trump.
He also confirmed that tariff rates would go into effect on August 1.Bessent on Sunday declined to confirm to CNN which countries were close to a deal.He said that about 100 letters will be sent to small countries where we dont have very much trade, many of which are already at the baseline 10%.
Trump on Friday touted letters as the better option for countries that fail to negotiate deals before the July 9 deadline.On April 9, Trump announced a complete three-month pause on all the reciprocal tariffs after insisting historically high tariffs were here to stay.
Later that month, he told Time magazine that he had already struck 200 trade deals but declined to say with whom.So far, Trump has only announced deals with three countries: the United Kingdom, which maintained a 10% tariff rate; China, which temporarily paused sky-high duties on most goods from 145% to 30%; and a minimum 20% tariff on goods from Vietnam.In response to the three deals being described as frameworks, Bessent said the upcoming letters will set their tariff rates.
So we will have 100 done in the next few days.Many of these countries never even contacted us, he said, adding that We have the leverage in this situation, as the country facing a trading deficit.Bessent pushed back against August 1 as a new deadline.
He also described the administrations plan as applying maximum pressure.Its not a new deadline.
We are saying, This is when its happening.
If you want to speed things up, have at it.
If you want to back to the old rate, thats your choice, Bessent said about Americas trading partners, and used the European Union as an example of countries coming to the table after Trump threatened 50% tariffs on EU imports.BRICSTrumps threat of new tariffs on any nation supporting the anti-American policies of BRICS countries on Sunday injects fresh instability and uncertainty into the presidents global tariff campaign, as the July 9 deadline for reciprocal tariff negotiations approaches.Some BRICS countries have been negotiating directly with the Trump administration, in particular India.
Its unclear if Trumps new threat would impact those talks.Trump earlier this year threatened to place a 100% tariff on seemingly hostile member countries if they supported a shared currency.
The idea of a BRICS currency was floated by Brazils President Luiz Incio Lula da Silva in 2023, but has not been a focus of the body, which rather seeks to bolster trade and financing in their local currencies.On Sunday, the group of BRICS leaders backed ongoing discussions of a cross-border payments initiative between member countries.BRICS countries also condemned the military strikes on member state Iran and expressed serious concern over deliberate attacks on civilian infrastructure and peaceful nuclear facilities, without naming Israel, which carried out days of strikes against Iran last month, or the US, which bombed three Iranian nuclear facilities as part of the same onslaught.Economic risksEconomists have warned that Trumps trade war, especially the wide-ranging tariffs on Chinese imports, will increase costs for consumers.
Some companies, including Walmart, have said they will raise prices for customers despite pushback from Trump.We have seen no inflation so far, Bessent said on Fox News Sunday, calling such projections misinformation and tariff derangement syndrome.
Bessent and other Trump officials have repeatedly argued in recent months that countries like China would bear the cost of tariffs.US wholesale inflation rose slightly in May, driven in part by costlier goods, though tariff-related effects were largely muted.
The Producer Price Index, a closely watched measurement of wholesale inflation, showed that prices paid to producers rose 0.1% in May, lifting the annual rate to 2.6%, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data released in June.Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, who has blasted Bessent for undermining the economic impact of tariffs, said Sunday on ABCs This Week that tariffs will probably collect some revenue but would come at the expense of higher inflation and less competitiveness for American producers.Also appearing on This Week, Stephen Miran, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said there was no lasting evidence that tariffs imposed on China during Trumps first term hurt the economy and the administration has only repeated the same performance this year.Tariff revenue is pouring in.
Theres no sign of any economically significant inflation whatsoever and job creation remains healthy, Miran said.Source: CNN--Agencies