BRASILIA: BRICS leaders railed against economic protectionism and “tariff blackmail” during a virtual meeting Monday held amid a damaging trade war with US President Donald Trump.
The group of emerging economies met via videoconference at the initiative of Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, whose office said it was necessary to address the “intensification of unilateral measures.”
The BRICS represents nearly 40 percent of global GDP and almost half of the world’s population.
Its members are among those hardest hit by what Lula referred to Monday as “tariff blackmail” and “unjustified and illegal” trade practices.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, for his part, called for the upholding of “the multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organization at its core” and for rejection of “all forms of protectionism.”
