President of Brazil: We, the BRICS countries, must respond to Trump's duties

Brazilian President Lula da Silva plans to discuss with the leaders of India and China a joint BRICS response to US duties imposed by President Donald Trump. It is reported by Reuters.

The Brazilian President intends to start talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi today, August 7, and then contact Chinese President Xi Jinping and other leaders.

"I'm going to discuss with them how each country reacts to the situation, what consequences it has for each of them, so that we can make a joint decision. It is important to remember that the BRICS countries are represented by ten participants in the G20," he said in an interview.

Lula da Silva also spoke sharply about Trump's approach:

"What President Trump is doing is actually undermining multilateralism. He wants to replace it with unilateral decisions, when agreements are concluded not within institutions, but in personal one-on-one negotiations with other countries. What negotiating power does a small Latin American country have against the United States? Nothing."

According to Lula da Silva, relations between the United States and Brazil have reached the lowest point in the last 200 years — especially after Trump linked the introduction of new duties with demands to stop the prosecution of ex-Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.

"We have already forgiven the US intervention in the 1964 coup of the year. But this is no longer a minor intervention. This is the US president who believes that he can dictate terms to a sovereign state such as Brazil. This is unacceptable," Lula said.