Leaders of enlarged BRICS family pose for a photo during the BRICS summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on July 6, 2025. Photo: AFP

Developing nations at the BRICS Summit on Monday rejected US President Donald Trump’s accusation that they are “anti-American,” with Brazil’s president saying the world does not need an emperor after the US leader threatened additional tariffs, Reuters reported. 

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said it was “very mistaken and very irresponsible” of the US president to “threaten other [countries] on social media,” the Financial Times reported. “The world has changed. We don’t want an emperor. We are sovereign countries,” he told a news conference on Monday, according to the Financial Times report.

At the BRICS Summit, leaders of the 11 largest emerging economies signed the Rio de Janeiro Declaration, reaffirming their commitment to the BRICS spirit of mutual respect and understanding, sovereign equality, solidarity, democracy, openness, inclusion, collaboration and consensus, according to the official BRICS website. 

“It is really disappointing that, when there is such a very positive collective manifestation, such as BRICS, there should be others who see it in a negative light and want to punish those who participate,” South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa told the public broadcaster SABC, according to the FT report. 
 
“BRICS is an important platform for cooperation among emerging markets and developing countries. It advocates openness, inclusiveness and win-win cooperation. It is not a bloc for confrontation. Nor does it target any country,” Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning said at Monday’s regular press briefing. “On the US tariff hikes, China has made its position clear more than once. Trade war and tariff war have no winners, and protectionism leads nowhere,” said Mao. 
 
Global Times