Malaysia maintains an independent foreign and economic policy and is focused on trade facilitation not ideological alignment, its trade ministry has said.
The ministry’s statement on Monday was in response to US President Donald Trump's threat of an additional 10 percent tariff on BRICS- aligned countries.
Malaysia was accepted as a partner country to the BRICS group of developing nations last October.
Trump threatened to impose a 10 percent tariff on countries aligning themselves with the BRICS group’s “anti-American policies”, prompting strong pushback from Russia and China, who insisted that BRICS was a cooperative alliance, not a bloc targeting other nations.
The Kremlin said on Monday that the BRICS group of nations had never been working to undermine other countries after Trump’s threat.
Trump made the comments as BRICS leaders kicked off a summit in Brazil on Sunday. “There will be no exceptions to this policy," he wrote on his Truth Social platform.
China on Monday also pushed back on threats of “additional” US tariffs on nations “aligning” with the BRICS, saying there were “no winners” in trade wars.
“We believe BRICS is a force for good in the international community and does not target any third party,” China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a live-streamed news conference in Beijing.
Mao said China “always opposed tariff war and trade war. We oppose the use of tariffs as a tool to coerce and pressure others. Imposition of tariffs serves no one's interest”.
BRICS was formed in 2009 by Brazil, Russia, India, and China, with South Africa joining in 2010. Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, Indonesia, and Iran later joined, expanding the group to 11 members, alongside 10 strategic partner countries.
The alliance aims to create alternative financial mechanisms, reduce dollar dependency, and increase Global South representation in international institutions, challenging Western-led governance structures.
