TRADE WAR TO TOP AGENDA
Leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and S. Africa to meet amid Trump’s hardening stance
LEADERS of the BRICS emerging economies — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — will meet, here, this week, with the threat of a worsening global trade war topping the agenda.
United States President Donald Trump’s hardening stance has compounded fears of an allout trade war after he slapped levies on goods from China worth tens of billions of dollars as well as tariffs on steel and aluminium products from the European Union, Canada and Mexico.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, China’s President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the annual three-day summit opening, here, today .
Earlier this month, China said that it would step up cooperation with other developing nations like the BRICS grouping to counter “trade protectionism”.
China on Monday rejected accusations by Trump that it was manipulating the yuan to give its exporters an edge, saying Washington appeared “bent on provoking a trade war”.
Trump has said he is ready to impose tariffs on all US$500 billion (RM2 trillion) of China imports, complaining that China’s trade surplus with the US is due to unfair currency manipulation.
“As to the US being bent on provoking a trade war, China does not want a trade war but is not afraid,” said China’s foreign ministry spokesman when asked about Trump’s threat to impose the across-the-board tariffs on Chinese goods.
Russian Economy Minister Maxim Oreshkin said last week, ahead of today’s meeting, that “this summit is about the context — we are at a time when the US and China announce new measures almost every week”.
He said much of the discussions with China would likely focus on what was happening with the US.