BRICS emerging economies meet as US trade war looms

BRICS Emerging Market Leaders – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – met today in Johannesburg for a three-day meeting devoted to the threat of a global trade war led by the United States.

The hardening of US President Donald Trump's stance worsened fears of a full-scale trade war after taxing goods worth tens of billions of dollars from China and imposing tariffs on goods. Other international imports.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Brazilian President Michel Temer will attend the annual summit, as well as several African leaders invited as guests.

million. Xi has spoken with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on the eve of the rally, stating that "the Johannesburg Summit is of particular importance for BRICS cooperation in the new circumstances".

South African Trade Minister Rob Davies opened the event today calling for a fight against the "rules-based multilateral trading system" that we all see as an important part of commercial architecture ". China this week rejected Trump's accusations that it was manipulating the yuan to give an advantage to its exporters, saying Washington seemed intent on provoking a trade war.

Trump is declared ready to impose tariffs on all 500 billion dollars of Chinese imports, complaining that China's trade surplus with the United States is due unfair currency manipulation.

The BRICS group, which represents more than 40% of the world's population, represents some of the largest emerging economies, but it struggles to find a unified voice – while achieving very different growth rates.

Analysts say US trade policy could give the group a renewed unity. Sreeram Chaulia, of the Jindal School of International Affairs outside Delhi, told AFP that BRICS leaders "would recognize that the US has unleashed punitive trade wars that are hurting all BRICS members ".

"They have a collective interest in promoting intra-BRICS trade, the urgency is this time greater," he said.

Russian Minister of Economy Maxim Oreshkin said last week that the meeting was "on the background – we are at a time when the United States and China are announcing new measures almost every week".

"It's a trade war, so leaders' discussions are particularly important to coordinate our positions," he added.

million. Xi arrived in South Africa after visiting Senegal and Rwanda as part of a whistlestop tour to cement relations with African allies.

Signaling diplomatic rivalry about the influence in Africa, Indian Modi visited Rwanda and Uganda on his own five-day tour of the continent, including the summit. BRICS.

The meeting opened today with a business forum, before heads of state will meet tomorrow.

African leaders who will be taking part in a BRICS awareness program tomorrow include Paul Kagame from Rwanda, Joao Lourenco from Angola, Macky Sall from Senegal and Yoweri Museveni from Uganda.
"South Africa and Africa in general can benefit from the increase in exports to fast-growing countries like India and China," said L & 39. AFP Kenneth Creamer, economist at Wits University in Johannesburg.

"The BRICS have the strategic potential to redefine world trade." Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan will also attend a summit as the current president of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and will meet Putin on the sidelines of the summit.