Trump’s Tariffs
Brazil’s Lula says he will call India, China to discuss Trump tariffs with BRICS group: media report
As US tariffs on Brazilian goods jumped to 50 percent on Wednesday, Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told Reuters in an interview that he saw no room for direct talks now with US President Donald Trump, which would otherwise likely be a « humiliation. »
Brazil is not about to announce reciprocal tariffs, he said. Nor will his government give up on cabinet-level talks. But Lula himself is in no rush to ring the White House, Reuters reported on Wednesday.
« The day my intuition says Trump is ready to talk, I won’t hesitate to call him, » Lula was quoted as saying in the Reuters’ interview from his presidential residence in Brasilia. « But today my intuition says he doesn’t want to talk. And I won’t humiliate myself. »
Lula also revealed in the interview with Reuters that he plans to call the leaders of India and China to discuss a joint BRICS response to tariffs on US imports imposed by Trump.
« What President Trump is doing is tacit — he wants to dismantle multilateralism, where agreements are made collectively within institutions, and replace it with unilateralism, where he negotiates one-on-one with other countries, » Lula said.
« I’m going to try to discuss with them about how each one is doing in this situation, what the implications are for each country, so we can make a decision, » he was quoted as saying in the Reuters’ report. « It’s important to remember that the BRICS have ten countries at the G20, » he added, referring to the group that gathers 20 of the world’s biggest economies, Reuters said.
Brazil requested consultations at the World Trade Organization (WTO) over 50 percent of tariff imposed by the US against the South American nation that went into effect on Wednesday, the AP reported.
« The US has flagrantly violated key commitments the country has agreed upon at the WTO, such as the principle of the most favored nation and tariff ceilings negotiated at that organization, » Brazil’s foreign ministry said in a statement, per the AP.
During a meeting of the Council for Sustainable Economic and Social Development held in Brasilia on Tuesday, Lula depicted the US trade move as « unjust » and highlighted Brazil’s progress on the international stage, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
Brazil will respond to a steep tariff increase imposed by the US with a contingency plan and take its case to the WTO, Lula said Tuesday, Xinhua said.
Brazil’s government estimates that 35.9 percent of the country’s goods shipped to the American market have been affected. That is about 4 percent of Brazil’s total exports, according to the AP.
Trump unveiled the current tariff rate on July 9, in a letter addressed to Lula and published online, the Al Jazeera said.
Unlike other tariff-related letters at the time, Trump used the correspondence to criticize the Brazilian government for its decision to prosecute Bolsonaro over an alleged coup attempt, according to the Al Jazeera.
(source: Global Times)
Trump tells EU to buy US oil, gas or face tariffs! Von der Leyen says EU is preparing for various scenario
EU officials played down today Donald Trump’s latest tariff threat, after the US president-elect warned of dire consequences unless the bloc ramps up its purchases of American oil and gas. Trump posted today on his Truth Social social media platform: “I told the European Union that they must make up their tremendous deficit with the United States by the large scale purchase of our oil and gas. Otherwise, it is TARIFFS all the way!!!”
Quizzed by reporters at a daily press briefing in Brussels, the European Commission’s trade spokesman Olof Gill responded to what he described as “frequent comments from the president-elect” on EU-US trade matters. “
[T]he EU has a substantial trade in goods surplus with the US, whereas the US has a substantial trade in services surplus vis-á-vis the EU, and that is not always reflected in some of the types of posts you’re referencing,” Gill said.
“So what we want to get across, and what we have said on numerous occasions, including from the top level President von der Leyen down, is that we are ready to discuss with President-elect Trump how we can further strengthen an already strong relationship, including by discussing our common interests in the energy sector,” the spokesman added. Europe has significantly ramped up imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the US over the past three years as Brussels seeks to diversify sources of supply away from Russia amid president Vladimir Putin’s undeclared war on Ukraine.
According to official EU figures, the US was the single largest source of both petroleum and non-pipeline gas in the third quarter of this year, supplying just over 15% of oil and almost 38% of the bloc’s LNG imports.
In terms of total gas imports, LNG and pipeline combined, US exports covered a fifth of the EU demand last year, second only to the 30% that came from neighbouring Norway, which is linked by several pipelines.
EU officials declined to confirm whether Trump – as implied in his social media post – had delivered his ultimatum to Brussels via any official channels. “I can only confirm that we have seen the tweets, the basis on which you have raised your questions,” the Commission’s deputy chief spokesperson Stefan de Keersmaecker said, underlining once again “the importance of further strengthening an already strong relationship”.
TANIKO Madagascar 