Trump may be BRICS’s best recruitment agent

Professor of Critical Development Studies at the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change, York University, Toronto. United States President Donald Trump has made no secret of his hostility towards BRICS. Last year, he threatened an additional 10 percent tariff on any country aligning itself with what he called the bloc’s “anti-American policies”. Since then, his administration has continued to wield tariffs aggressively against trading partners, including BRICS members such as Brazil, India and China. The message appears straightforward: Countries that challenge US economic power should expect to pay a price. But coercion has consequences.