'Certain Country' Raising Trade War Risks: Xi Jinping Targets US At BRICS Meet

At the BRICS Trade Summit on Monday, attended virtually by Chinese President Xi Jinping, the theme of discussions was centred around the global trade jitters arising out of the tariffs imposed by the United States.

The Chinese premier, in an apparent jibe at the Trump-led US administration, said a "certain country" wants to severely impact the world economy through "trade war".

Xi called upon the bloc of third-world countries to "boost cooperation in trade and technology" among themselves, and "deepen economic cooperation".

The Chinese leader also called upon the BRICS members to "resist all forms of protectionism". This assumes significance in the wake of sharp import levies slapped on various countries by Washington, which once championed the cause of free trade.

Xi reiterated China's commitment to maintain international and economic trade orders, in view of the escalating tensions in global trade arising from the import levies and secondary tariffs being levied by the US.

The Chinese president urged BRICS states to "jointly defend multilateralism". The appeal comes in view of a dominant US administration, which is seen as attempting to redirect the flow of international trade through unilateral measures such as the imposition of trade tariffs and sanctions.

In this backdrop, Xi called upon BRICS, which includes India as a key member to "boost the voice of the Global South".

Notably, some of the BRICS core members have been subjected to the highest trade tariffs by the US. India and Brazil face 50% levies each, whereas the tariffs on China have been kept at 30% amid the ongoing trade deal negotiations with Washington.

Xi's address at the BRICS comes about a week after he hosted leaders of Russia and India, among others, for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Tianjin. The visuals from the event's sidelines showed him holding a joint interaction with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

PM Modi, notably, was not present at the BRICS virtual summit held on Monday. He was represented by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, who flagged "increasing trade barriers" and failure of the existing multilateral system" in his brief address.

"The multilateral system appears to be failing the world. That so many serious stresses are being left unaddressed is understandably having consequences for the global order itself. It is this cumulative concern that the BRICS is now discussing," Jaishankar said.