With Nigeria, Africa’s fourth largest economy and the world’s sixthmost populous nation with over 228 million people, already being formally welcomed into the broader group of BRICS partner states (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), there is an indication that President of the United States of America (USA), Donald Trump’s threat to impose an additional 10 per cent tariff on any country aligning with the BRICS countries.

Consequently, Nigeria is in line to get more US tariff, in addition to the 14 per cent already given in the reciprocal tariff. The Foreign ministry of Brazil had announced on January 17, that Nigeria has become the ninth official BRICS partner, joining Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Thailand, Uganda, and Uzbekistan.

Original members of BRICS were Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, which has now expanded to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The Trump administration has demonstrated an unequivocal commitment to the ideology of economic nationalism, protectionism, deglobalisation, unilateralism and reciprocity and fragmentation of the global economy.

This has unleashed a flurry of retaliatory trade policy actions from a number of countries across a wide range of product groups, even by the close allies of the United States. The US threat is aimed at checkmating what Trump perceives as “Anti-American policies” from those countries.

This comes amid reports that while Saudi Arabia has held off formally joining, another 30 nations have expressed interest in joining the BRICS countries, either as full members or partners.

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

In a joint statement from the opening of the BRICS summit in Rio de Janeiro released on Sunday afternoon, the group warned that 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 per cent 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 finalise dozens of trade deals with a wide range of countries before his July 9 deadline for the imposition of significant “retaliatory tariffs.”

Trump, ready to impose an additional 10 per cent tariff on any country aligning with the BRICS countries Indonesia’s Senior Economic minister, Airlangga Hartarto, is in Brazil for the BRICS summit and is scheduled to go to the US on Monday to oversee tariff talks, an official told Reuters.

India’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In opening remarks to the summit earlier, Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva drew a parallel with the Cold War period’s NonAligned Movement, a group of developing nations that resisted joining either side of a polarised 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.”

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

Expansion of the bloc 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. “If international governance does not reflect the new multipolar reality of the 21st century, it is up to BRICS to help bring it up to date,” Lula said in his remarks, which highlighted the failure of US-led wars in the Middle East.

Stealing some thunder from this year’s summit, Chinese President Xi Jinping chose to send his premier in his place. Russian President Vladimir Putin is attending online due to an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court related to his war in Ukraine. Still, several heads of state were gathered 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.

However, there are questions about the shared goals of an increasingly heterogeneous BRICS group, which has grown to include regional rivals along with major emerging economies. In the joint statement, the leaders called attacks against Iran’s “civilian infrastructure and peaceful nuclear facilities” a “violation of international law.”

The group expressed “grave concern” for the Palestinian people over Israeli attacks on Gaza, and condemned what the joint statement called a “terrorist attack” in India-administered Kashmir. The group voiced its support for Ethiopia and Iran to join the World Trade Organisation, while calling to urgently restore its ability to resolve trade disputes.

The leaders’ joint statement backed plans to pilot a BRICS Multilateral Guarantees initiative within the group’s New Development Bank to lower financing costs and boost investment in member states, as first reported by Reuters last week. In a separate statement following a discussion of Artificial Intelligence (AI), the leaders called for protections against unauthorised use of AI to avoid excessive data collection and allow mechanisms for fair payment.