RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil: The foreign ministers of Brazil, China, Russia and other BRICS members began two days of talks in Rio de Janeiro Monday aimed at forging a united front to US President Donald Trump’s aggressive trade policies.
The meeting comes at a critical moment for the world economy after the International Monetary Fund slashed growth forecasts over the impact of the US leader’s sweeping new tariffs.
Top diplomats from the 11-member bloc — which includes Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates — met to hone their agenda ahead of a July leaders summit.
Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira stressed the importance of dialogue at a time of “humanitarian crises, armed conflicts, political instability and the erosion of multilateralism.”
BRICS’s “role as a group is more important than ever,” he said.
Trump, since returning to the White House in January, has hit dozens of countries with a blanket 10 percent tariff, but China faces levies of up to 145 percent on many products.
Beijing has responded with duties of 125 percent on US goods.
Senior Chinese economic planner Zhao Chenxin said Monday in Beijing that the country was on the “right side of history” in the face of what he called Washington’s “unilateralism and bullying.”
BRICS has expanded significantly since its 2009 inception as a group of four powers — Brazil, Russia, India and China — seeking an alternative platform to Western-led international organizations such as the G7.
It now makes up nearly half of the world’s population, 39 percent of global GDP and weighs in on issues from Ukraine to Gaza to global trade.
Vieira opened the talks with a call for a “complete withdrawal” of Israeli forces from Gaza, terming Israel’s more than 50-day aid blockade of the territory “unacceptable.”
The group has had generally less to say about the war in Ukraine, issuing calls for peace while steering clear of condemning Russia’s invasion.
And Vieira on Monday called for a “diplomatic solution” which respects the “principles and objectives” of the United Nations charter.
The meeting comes at the start of what the United States has called a “critical week” for talks on ending the Ukraine war.
Trump appeared to turn against Putin at the weekend after a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at Pope Francis’s funeral, saying he felt the Russian leader was “just tapping me along.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin responded by announcing a three-day ceasefire from May 8-10.
The White House, however, suggested the pause was not sufficient, saying Trump had “made it clear he wants to see a permanent ceasefire first.”
At the same time the US president has been piling pressure on Kyiv to give up hopes of reclaiming Russian-annexed Crimea.
A BRICS challenge to the hegemony of the dollar is expected to feature high on the agenda.
At a summit last year, BRICS members discussed boosting non-dollar transactions, eliciting a swift rebuke from Trump who threatened them with 100 percent tariffs if they undercut the US currency.
Speaking to Brazil’s O Globo newspaper ahead of the meeting, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said BRICS nations planned to “increase the share of national currencies in transactions” between member states, but said talk of transitioning toward a unified BRICS currency was “premature.”
Vieira, whose country has so far been spared the worst of Trump’s trade ire — Brazilian imports to the US are subject to 10 percent tariffs, a fraction of those imposed on China — also denied any plans to create a new currency.
Another issue expected to feature prominently in the joint statement issued after the BRICS meeting Tuesday is climate change.
Brazil is the host of this year’s UN COP30 climate conference, which will take place in November in the Amazon city of Belem.
Trump trade war dominates BRICS meeting in Brazil
https://arab.news/vye4j
Trump trade war dominates BRICS meeting in Brazil
- A BRICS challenge to the hegemony of the dollar is expected to feature high on the agenda
Pope names veteran Vatican diplomat as ambassador to the US to manage relations with Trump
- Italian Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, 68, is currently the Holy See’s ambassador to the UN
- He replaces French-born Cardinal Christophe Pierre
ROME: Pope Leo XIV on Saturday named a veteran Vatican diplomat as his new ambassador to the United States to manage one of the Holy See’s most important bilateral relationships at a crucial time, with ties strained over the Trump administration’s war in Iran and immigration crackdown.
Italian Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, 68, is currently the Holy See’s ambassador to the United Nations in New York. He replaces French-born Cardinal Christophe Pierre, who at age 80 is retiring as apostolic nuncio in Washington.
Caccia served as the Holy See’s ambassador to Lebanon and the Philippines before being posted to the UN in 2019. Ordained a priest in Milan in 1983, Caccia later served as “assessor” in the Vatican secretariat of state, a key administrative post in the Holy See’s most important office.
He inherits a complicated and consequential dossier on both the US church and state fronts at a time of global turmoil.
Pierre’s tenure as ambassador was notable for clear signs of friction between the leadership of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, which tends to skew conservative, and the more progressive priorities of Pope Francis’ pontificate.
The relationship with the US and its church is crucial for the Holy See, not least because US Catholics are the most generous donors to the Holy See’s coffers.
Leo, history’s first US-born pope, is well aware of the dynamic, having served as Francis’ point man on bishop nominations for two years before his 2025 election. Leo has emphasized a message of pacification and unity in the church.
The first Trump administration clashed with Francis especially on migration, and that tension has continued in Leo’s pontificate and the second Trump term. Leo has repeatedly insisted that the Trump administration respect the human dignity of migrants, while acknowledging its right to its borders.
More recently, Leo has expressed “profound concern” about the US-Israeli war in Iran and urged both sides to “stop the spiral of violence before it becomes an irreparable abyss.”
In comments last Sunday, Leo called for the resumption of diplomacy. Weapons, he said, only sow “destruction, pain and death.”
In a major foreign policy speech earlier this year, Leo also made clear he opposed the US aggressive use of military power, in an apparent reference to Washington’s incursion in Venezuela and threats to take Greenland. He denounced how nations were using force to assert their dominion worldwide and “completely undermine” peace and the post-World War II international legal order.
Caccia said in a statement Saturday he was humbled by Leo’s appointment and faith in naming him ambassador to his native country.
“I receive this mission with both joy and a sense of trepidation,” according to a statement reported by Vatican News. He said his was a mission “at the service of communion and peace,” recalling that this year marks the 250th anniversary of the US independence.
The current president of the US conference, Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, welcomed Caccia’s appointment and offered the US hierarchy’s “warmest welcome and our prayerful support.”
The Holy See has a tradition of diplomatic neutrality, though Leo has spoken out strongly against the humanitarian toll of Israel’s military action in Gaza and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
