BRICS Criticize Tariffs at Muted Online Summit

In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia's President Vladimir Putin attends an extraordinary virtual summit of the BRICS group of nations in Sochi on September 8, 2025. (Photo by Vyacheslav PROKOFYEV / POOL / AFP)

The leaders of the BRICS countries gathered online on Monday for a summit at the invitation of Brazil, the current leader of the bloc. The gathering saw some sharp criticism of U.S.-led trade disruptions, but the tone was more muted than last week’s Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meeting, which was more pointedly post-Western in optics.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s office put addressing the tariffs at the center of the talks. “Tariff blackmail is being normalized as an instrument to conquer markets and interfere in domestic affairs,” Lula said.

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by CGSP Staff

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