U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Sunday that nations aligning themselves with what he called the “anti-American policies of BRICS” will face an extra 10% tariff on their exports to the United States, vowing that the new measure will be applied universally without exception.
Posting on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump declared, “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.” He did not provide further details regarding how these alignments would be determined or which policies might trigger the tariff.
Thailand is a Partner Country in BRICS. Partner countries are invited to participate in the Summit and the Foreign Ministers’ meeting and may join other discussion sessions within the forum, subject to consultation and consensus among member countries. These nations may also endorse BRICS Summit Declarations, BRICS Foreign Ministers’ Joint Declarations, and other final documents.
The process of admission as a ‘partner country’ of BRICS is carried out in stages. First, informal consultations are conducted by the rotating presidency, following criteria such as geographic balance and maintaining good diplomatic relations with all group members. Next, the group’s leaders decide by consensus to invite countries to join the ‘partner country’ category. Once the consultations are concluded, the announcement of new partners is made as they accept the invitation.
This statement comes as BRICS, a coalition of leading emerging economies, convenes for its annual summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The BRICS group has expanded in recent years and now comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, Indonesia, and Iran. The bloc describes its purpose as a platform for political and diplomatic coordination among countries across the Global South, with ambitions to collaborate on various fronts.
Notably, Chinese President Xi Jinping was not in attendance at this year’s summit, instead sending Premier Li Qiang in his stead. Russian President Vladimir Putin participated virtually.
In a related move, Trump indicated the U.S. would begin distributing formal notices to global trading partners on Monday, specifying individual tariff rates and outlining any recent trade agreements reached with specific nations.
In January 2025, Belarus, Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Cuba, Malaysia, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Nigeria were announced as ‘partner countries’ of the group.
