Trump Fumes At BRICS - Now Other Nations Are Banding Together To Counter US Tariffs

U.S. President Donald Trump's reciprocal tariffs are reportedly prompting countries to form new regional trade alliances in response, even as the president has taken a confrontational approach toward existing partnerships.

A Financial Times report, citing diplomats and officials of member countries, stated that Singapore and the UAE are preparing to launch a new grouping of small and mid-sized countries, comprising approximately 10, to strengthen their trading ties. 

The rumored coalition would be named the“Future of Investment and Trade Partnership, or“FIT-P,” with New Zealand also expected to join Singapore and the UAE as a core founding member.

Potential members of the group are Morocco, Rwanda, Malaysia, Uruguay, Costa Rica, Panama, Paraguay and Norway, although the final member list of the group hasn't been confirmed yet.

The U.S. stock market has been fairly resilient amid emerging threats to U.S. trade and its global dominance. The SPDR S & P 500 ETF (SPY) and the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ), exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that track the performances of the broader S & P 500 Index and the tech-focused Nasdaq 100 Index, respectively, are up 10.7% and 11.9% for the year.

Sentiment toward the SPY ETF remained 'bullish' as of late Monday and that toward the QQQ ETF stayed at 'bearish.' The message volume on both streams was 'low.'

The rationale behind the FIT-P partnership is to deliver confidence-building measures such as digital trade. One of the officials involved in the discussion told FT that“The idea, at the start, is to keep it as a loose coalition to bolster trade openness and international trade rules, but it may evolve into something bigger over time. It is a work in progress.”

One of the focus areas of the proposed coalition is to encourage members to treat paper-based and digital documents equally, in a bid to increase the efficiency of trade.

The coalition planned to keep membership restricted to smaller nations, creating a“nimbler forum that could develop common understandings on areas such as digital documents, accepting e-signatures, and rules on electronic trade.”

The alliance would kick things off with a virtual meeting in November, with an in-person event planned for July 2026.

The increasing emphasis on regional trade groupings has emerged as the Trump administration has struck bilateral trade deals with the U.S.'s major trading partners to shrink its deficits. This has increased the pressure to defend the rules-based trade system.

The FT report referred to the European Union and the 12-member Indo-Pacific CPTPP trade bloc announcement regarding plans to strengthen their ties.

To counter the emerging BRICS alliance, which was seen as a threat to America's dominance and the dollar's status as a global reserve, Trump threatened to impose additional tariffs on the group's member nations.

India, a key BRICS member, has been at the receiving end for the same reason, as well as due to its reliance on Russian oil imports. 

In a Truth Social Post on Monday, Trump accused India of charging the U.S. with high tariffs and also restricting U.S. companies from selling in the country.“It has been a totally one-sided disaster!” he said, adding that India buys the bulk of its military products and oil from Russia and very little from the U.S. 

“They have now offered to cut their Tariffs to nothing, but it's getting late. They should have done so years ago.”

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