Trump threatens extra tariffs on BRICS

President Donald Trump said the US will impose an additional 10% tariff on any countries aligning themselves with the "Anti-American policies" of the BRICS group of developing nations, whose leaders kicked off a summit in Brazil on Sunday, reports Reuters.

With forums such as the G7 and G20 groups of major economies hamstrung by divisions and the disruptive "America First" approach of the US president, BRICS is presenting itself as a haven for multilateral diplomacy amid violent conflicts and trade wars.

In opening remarks to the BRICS summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva drew a parallel with the Cold War's Non-Aligned Movement, a group of developing nations that resisted joining either side of a polarized global order. "BRICS is the heir to the Non-Aligned Movement," Lula told leaders. "With multilateralism under attack, our autonomy is in check once again."

In a joint statement released on Sunday afternoon, the group warned the rise in tariffs threatened global trade, continuing its veiled criticism of Trump's tariff policies.

Hours later, Trump warned he would punish countries seeking to join with the grouping.

"Any Country aligning themselves with the Anti-American policies of BRICS, will be charged an additional 10% Tariff. There will be no exceptions to this policy. Thank you for your attention to this matter!" Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

Trump did not clarify or expand on the "Anti-American policies" reference in his post.

Trump's administration is seeking to finalize dozens of trade deals with a wide range of countries before his July 09 deadline for the imposition of significant "retaliatory tariffs".

BRICS nations now represent more than half the world's population and 40% of its economic output, Lula noted in remarks on Saturday to business leaders, warning of rising protectionism.

More than 30 nations have expressed interest in participating in the BRICS, either as full members or partners.

BRICS leaders gather at Rio de Janeiro

According to Reuters, leaders of the growing BRICS group of developing nations were set to gather in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday, calling for reform of traditional Western institutions while presenting the bloc as a defender of multilateralism in an increasingly fractured world.

With forums such as the G7 and G20 groups of major economies hamstrung by divisions and the disruptive "America First" approach of US President Donald Trump, expansion of the BRICS has opened new space for diplomatic coordination.

"In the face of the resurgence of protectionism, it is up to emerging nations to defend the multilateral trade regime and reform the international financial architecture," Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told a BRICS business forum on Saturday.

BRICS nations now represent over half the world's population and 40% of its economic output.

The BRICS group gathered leaders from Brazil, Russia, India and China at its first summit in 2009. The bloc later added South Africa and last year included Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as full members. This is the first leaders' summit to include Indonesia.

"The vacuum left by others ends up being filled almost instantly by the BRICS," said a Brazilian diplomat who asked not to be named. Although the G7 still concentrates vast power, the source added, "It doesn't have the predominance it once did."

However, there are questions about the shared goals of an increasingly heterogenous BRICS group, which has grown to include regional rivals along with major emerging economies.

Stealing some thunder from this year's summit, Chinese President Xi Jinping chose to send his prime minister in his place. Russian President Vladimir Putin is attending online due to an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court.

Still, many heads of state will gather for discussions at Rio's Museum of Modern Art on Sunday and Monday, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Over 30 nations have expressed interest in participating in the BRICS, either as full members or partners.

Brazil, which also hosts the United Nations climate summit in November, has seized on both gatherings to highlight how seriously developing nations are tackling climate change, while Trump has slammed the brakes on US climate initiatives.

Both China and the UAE signaled in meetings with Brazilian Finance Minister Fernando Haddad in Rio that they plan to invest in a proposed Tropical Forests Forever Facility.

Expansion of the BRICS has added diplomatic weight to the gathering, which aspires to speak for developing nations across the Global South, strengthening calls for reforming global institutions such as the United Nations Security Council and the International Monetary Fund.

The growth of the bloc has also increased the challenges to reaching consensus on contentious geopolitical issues.

Ahead of the summit, negotiators struggled to find shared language for a joint statement about the bombardment of Gaza, the Israel-Iran conflict and a proposed reform of the Security Council.

To overcome differences among African nations regarding the continent's proposed representative to a reformed Security Council, the group agreed to endorse seats for Brazil and India while leaving open which country should represent Africa's interests, a person familiar with the talks told Reuters.

The BRICS will also continue their thinly veiled criticism of Trump's US tariff policy. At an April ministerial meeting, the bloc expressed concern about "unjustified unilateral protectionist measures, including the indiscriminate increase of reciprocal tariffs."

 

Trump's decisions good or bad

In a nearly 30-minute speech, Donald Trump called for “change” after he claimed a litany of national failures under Biden’s watch. His first standing ovation came after announcing that he would declare a national emergency at the Southern border, a move that will allow the Pentagon to deploy troops to the region.

The declaration would also free up resources to build a wall at the US-Mexico border, an effort he was forced to abandon at the end of his last administration.

Trump later said he would reinstate service members who were fired for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine and give them full back pay.

The GOP has long vowed to reinstate troops fired for refusing the vaccine. They slipped in the 2024 defense authorization bill a requirement for the Pentagon to consider reinstatement for that reason.

Trump also said he would stop “radical political theories” and “social experiments” for members of the armed forces. “It’s going to end immediately,” he said.

Trump vowed to “build the strongest military the world has ever seen.”

In addition, he said the US will once again become a “growing nation,” vowing to take back the Panama Canal during his inauguration speech.

The newly sworn-in president added that he wants his legacy to be that of a “peacemaker and unifier” as he touted the release of Israeli hostages a day before his inauguration.

One notable omission from his inaugural speech was the Russia-Ukraine war, soon to enter its third year. Trump has promised to end the conflict war even before he was sworn in.

The immediate visible effects of the new Trump administration could be found at the Pentagon, where a portrait of retired Gen. Mark Milley, the former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who has feuded in highly public spats with Trump, was taken down on Monday. No reason was given for the change.

Trump has clashed with Milley over several national security issues during his first time in the White House, with Trump once suggesting that the four-star general deserved to be executed. Milley, who retired in 2023, has called Trump a fascist.

In his last few hours in the Oval Office on Monday, Joe Biden issued pre-emptive pardons to Milley and several other people, which he said were not an admittance of guilt but were issued for their service.

 

Joe Biden team dominated by Jews

US President Joe Biden has appointed a strong and experienced team, among them half of Jews, one wonders if there has ever been a more Jewish US administration. Here are the 15 Jews who comprise Biden’s team. It is believed that a vigorous American presence in world affairs, spearheaded by the Jewish team, is in Israel’s long-term interest, more than an ‘America first’ which makes the US largely irrelevant in global affairs.

• Antony Blinken, Secretary of State, is a veteran career diplomat. His stepfather, Samuel Pisar, was the only Holocaust survivor of some 900 children in his Polish school. He was rescued after fleeing from a Nazi death march and finding refuge in a US armed corps tank – an episode Blinken recounted movingly when Biden introduced him.

• David Cohen, Deputy CIA Director returns to this role after filling it from 2015 to 2017. Cohen is the son of a prominent Boston Jewish physician.

• Janet Yellen, Secretary of the Treasury is the first woman to fill this role; previously, she headed the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. A 2016 Trump attack ad featured three Jews, including Yellen, and reflected anti-Semitic tropes. She is a renowned labor economist. 

• Merrick Garland, Attorney-General was blocked from becoming a Supreme Court Justice by then-Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, in the last year of the Obama presidency. After being nominated Garland spoke of his grandparents, who fled antisemitism in Europe and moved to the US.

• Avril Haines, Director of National Intelligence was deputy director of the CIA under Obama, the first woman to hold this job. Her mother was a well-known Jewish painter, Adrian Rappin (Rappaport) and Haines identifies with Israel; she visited Israel with her non-Jewish father. 

• Ron Klain, Chief of Staff was also Biden’s chief of staff in his vice presidential days. Klain speaks of his childhood synagogue in Indianapolis, where he learned multiple Torah portions for his bar mitzvah, and of his commitment to raising Jewish children. 

• Eric Lander, Director, Office of Science & Technology Policy is a leading geneticist. His position has been elevated to Cabinet level. Lander has spoken of being the subject of antisemitic criticism by James Watson, discoverer of the DNA double helix. 

• Rachel Levine, Deputy Secretary, Health and Human Services grew up in a Conservative Jewish home in Massachusetts. She is the first open transgender person to be nominated for a position requiring Senate confirmation.

• Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security was the Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security under Obama. He was born in Cuba, to a Cuban Jewish father and Romanian Jewish mother who survived the Shoah. He has worked closely with Jewish groups in the past. 

• Anne Neuberger, Director of Cybersecurity, National Security Agency is an Orthodox Jew, from Brooklyn, educated through college in Orthodox schools. She helped establish the US Cyber Command and led security efforts in the 2018 midterm elections. Her grandparents are Holocaust survivors and her parents were among the passengers on the Air France flight in 1976, kidnapped to Uganda and rescued in Israel’s Entebbe operation. She founded Sister to Sister, an NGO that serves single mothers across the US.

• Wendy Sherman, Deputy Secretary of State was born in Maryland to a Jewish family. Her father served in the Marines. She is the first woman to be appointed Deputy Secretary of State. A career diplomat, she was the lead negotiator for the controversial Iran nuclear deal. 

• Jeff Zients, COVID-19 Coordinator was born in Washington, DC, and was raised in Kensington, Maryland. His family is Jewish. From 2014 through 2017 he was the director of the National Economic Council. He will fill the crucial role of directing and coordinating efforts to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Rochelle Walensky, Director, Center for Disease Control and her husband are members of Temple Emanuel, in Newton, Massachusetts, a prominent Conservative synagogue. She is an expert on AIDS and HIV and served as Chief of Infectious Diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital, and professor at Harvard Medical School.

• Jared Bernstein, member, Council of Economic Advisors was the chief economist and economic adviser to Biden under Obama. 

• Douglas Emhoff is husband of US Vice President Kamala Harris. He is the first-ever husband of a US Vice President to enjoy a key position. He was born in Brooklyn, son of Jewish parents Barbara and Michael Emhoff. He grew up in New Jersey. He is an entertainment lawyer and teaches at Georgetown University Law Center.