In a sharp rebuke of US President Donald Trump’s recent tariff threats, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has publicly denounced what he described as imperial behavior, calling for respect for national sovereignty and the multilateral world order. The comments came in response to a July 7 post on Trump’s Truth Social platform, where the US president threatened to impose an additional 10% tariff on any nation “aligning themselves with the anti-American policies of BRICS.”

The statement from Trump came just as BRICS-now a ten-member group comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates-wrapped up its annual summit in Rio de Janeiro. With BRICS steadily expanding its influence and advocating alternatives to the dollar-based global trade system, Trump’s rhetoric appears aimed at curbing what he perceives as a growing challenge to US hegemony.

But Lula is having none of it.

“I don’t think it’s responsible or serious for the president of a country as large as the United States to be threatening the world over the internet,” Lula told reporters. “He needs to understand that the world has changed. We don’t want an emperor. We are sovereign nations.”

Lula’s remarks highlight a growing philosophical divide on the world stage. While Trump continues to pursue an aggressive, transactional, America-first approach to global relations, many leaders in the Global South-including those in BRICS-are pushing for a multipolar world order based on sovereignty, mutual........

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