China has confirmed the participation of President Xi Jinping in the virtual BRICS summit, organized by Brazil to discuss the trade policy of the Donald Trump administration. Russian dictator Vladimir Putin will also join the meeting, while Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will send his foreign minister instead. This was reported by Bloomberg, writes UNN.
Details
According to Bloomberg, citing its sources, Brazilian leader Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva initiated the gathering with a dual purpose: to discuss trade barriers imposed by Washington and to demonstrate the unity of the largest developing economies in supporting multilateralism.
Chairman Xi Jinping will attend the online BRICS leaders' summit in Beijing on September 8 and deliver an important speech
BRICS includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, but the association is gradually expanding to include new countries from Asia and the Middle East. This trend is causing increasing criticism from Trump, who in July threatened additional tariffs for states that "join the group's anti-American policies." He also spoke negatively about BRICS' efforts to reduce dependence on the dollar in international trade.
Despite pressure from the US, new restrictions have only strengthened cooperation between countries and China. In recent weeks, Xi Jinping has actively held diplomatic meetings: hosting Putin and Modi at the SCO summit in Tianjin, and welcoming world leaders, including Kim Jong Un, in Beijing during a military parade marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.
At the same time, India is trying to balance between Washington and Beijing. After prolonged disputes over high American tariffs on Indian goods, Trump has recently softened his stance on New Delhi somewhat, which influenced Modi's decision to delegate the head of the foreign policy department instead of himself.
According to Brazilian officials, the virtual meeting will take place on Monday at 8:00 AM ET and will last several hours. The meeting will be held behind closed doors, and no joint final statement is planned. Each participant will decide independently whether to publish the text of their speech.
Recall
As early as August 31, it became known that Brazil proposed an extraordinary BRICS summit to coordinate a joint response to US trade challenges. The initiative gained relevance after the US raised tariffs on Brazilian products.