TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - United States President Donald Trump has threatened new tariffs on any country that supports the "anti-American" policy of the emerging economies group BRICS. As reported by CNN and CBS News, this was disclosed when he announced letters of tariffs would be sent to several countries starting Monday, July 7, 2025, ahead of the main deadline on the day after tomorrow.
In a Truth Social post on Sunday, Trump said the U.S. would impose a 10 percent tariff on "any country aligning themselves with the Anti-American policies of BRICS" with "no exceptions," although it was not immediately clear which policy Trump referred to.
The BRICS group, an acronym of the founding members Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, has long stood as a group united by the shared view that global power distribution should be redistributed. This reflects the current global economic reality of a "multipolar" world order, as opposed to a Western-led one.
The group has recently expanded to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates as members. BRICS also has ten low-level partner countries, including Belarus, Nigeria, Thailand, and Vietnam. It is unclear whether Saudi Arabia has been invited to join the economic club.
Brazil is currently hosting the BRICS summit, with leaders releasing a joint declaration on Sunday expressing "serious concern" about the "rise of unilateral tariff and non-tariff measures," which appears to be a veiled jab at the Trump administration's trade policy.
Trump's threat of new tariffs for any country supporting the "anti-American policies" of the BRICS countries has triggered new instability and uncertainty in the U.S. global tariff campaign, as the July 9 deadline for "tit-for-tat" tariff negotiations approaches.
Some BRICS countries have been in direct negotiations with the Trump administration, particularly India. It is unclear whether Trump's new threat will affect those talks.
Earlier this year, Trump threatened to impose "100 percent tariffs" on member countries that "appear to be hostile" if they support a common currency.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva proposed the idea of a BRICS currency in 2023. However, the group has not focused on it, preferring to increase trade and financing in their local currencies instead.
On Sunday, BRICS leaders voiced support for ongoing discussions on cross-border payment initiatives among member countries.
Finance Minister Scott Bessent previously said tariffs could return to April levels if countries fail to reach agreements with the U.S.
"If you don’t move things along, then on August 1 you will boomerang back to your April 2 tariff level," Bessent said about trading partners on Sunday at "State of the Union with Dana Bash" on CNN.
Trump has indicated the letters will include tariffs at the current 10 percent baseline or up to 70 percent. Bessent said the United States will not impose a 70 percent tariff on major trading partners.
"We’re gonna be sending letters out on Monday having to do with the trade deals. Could be 12, maybe 15 … and we’ve made deals, also," Trump told CNN's Betsy Klein when asked about import tariffs on Sunday afternoon at Morristown Municipal Airport in New Jersey.
Following Bessent's comments, Trump added that letters will continue to be sent on Tuesday and Wednesday. "We’ll have most countries done by July 9 — either a letter or a deal," he said.
"The president is right in the midst of discussing all sorts of deals with all sorts of countries," Trade Minister Howard Lutnick told reporters on Sunday alongside Trump. He also confirmed that import tariffs will come into effect on August 1.
Bessent on Sunday refused to confirm to CNN which countries were close to reaching a deal.
He said about 100 letters will be sent to small countries "where we don’t have very much trade," many of which are "already at the baseline 10%." Trump on Friday referred to the letters as the "better option" for countries that fail to negotiate deals before the July 9 deadline.
On April 9, Trump announced a three-month temporary halt on all "tit-for-tat" tariffs after insisting that very high tariffs would remain in place. Later that month, he told Time magazine that he had reached 200 trade deals but refused to say with whom.
So far, Trump has only announced deals with three countries: the UK, which maintains a 10 percent tariff; China, which temporarily suspended very high tariffs on most goods from 145 percent to 30 percent; and a minimum 20 percent tariff for goods from Vietnam.
In response to the described three agreements 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 these countries face trade deficits.
Bessent rejected August 1 as a new deadline. He also described the government's plan as applying "maximum pressure."
"It’s not a new deadline. We are saying, 'This is when it’s happening. If you want to speed things up, have at it. If you want to back to the old rate, that’s your choice,’" Bessent said about America's trading partners, using the EU as an example of countries that came to the negotiating table after Trump threatened a 50 percent tariff for EU imports.
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